When your life takes a turn
by Alina Larin
Summary: While stuck in the Wasteland Cole Turner is offered a deal: to get his powers back in exchange for helping a young woman to master her powers. What he does not know is that if he accepts his own life will change in a way he never expected.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the "Charmed" characters, which belong to WB and Spelling productions. Nicole Berg and all other characters belong to me.  
  
This is my first attempt so please review. I'll be waiting.  
  
Summary: this story is completely devoted to Cole Turner and to his fans. AU season 5.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
12 people, 8 men and 4 women, were sitting around the big table in the boardroom of BalFor Holdings with one chair still empty. The man in the chairman seat closed the folder in front of him.  
  
"This concludes the agenda of our meeting. As you have noticed our profits have increased by 8% in this quarter and considering current economic situation it is more than satisfactory. Does anybody have any other issues to discuss?"  
  
Silences greeted his question. The chairman sighed and said in a quieter voice.  
  
"Then shall we proceed? "  
  
He got up and went to the massive bookcase, which covered the entire wall of the boardroom. He stared at the middle row of books for a while and a part of the wall in front of him dissolved and showed a staircase going deep down. The chairman started to descend followed by other board members. They came to a massive opening, which had open fire instead of the floor and blue sky with clouds instead of the ceiling. In the middle of the opening a round surface hanged in the air. The chairman had disappeared from the bottom stair and reappeared on the surface dressed in a grey robe with the hood completely covering his face. One by one the other members joined him until all twelve were standing in the circle on the surface. In the middle of this circle there was a piece of parchment hanging in the air.  
  
"Welcome to the Lugels council," said the chairman. "I called this meeting because there have been important developments, which the Council should hear about. "  
  
"We are listening very attentively to you, William," a woman to his right spoke with a soft French accent.  
  
"Thank you, Celina. As you know we have been analysing the situation and the conclusions are quite worrying. It seems that events of the last 6 months have significantly affected the number of magic people around the globe. The worst situation is in wiccan circles. With the Source and his Council being dead the whole Underworld is in confusion. Demons are good in creating anarchy but they are not good in living in one. There have been massive losses on both demonic and also whitelighters' side. Demons know that one of the whitelighters has hidden the Grimore and therefore they are after every one of them to find out which whitelighter was it. Demons also have been fighting among each other constantly. So the results are pretty worrying. If the rates keep to what they are we are looking at a 50% decrease in the numbers of witches, demons and other magic folk in the next 12 months and thereafter it will be very difficult to stop the total extinction. So this brings us to the decision that there is a need for emergency action. It is essential to stop the bloodshed between the forces of dark and evil in order to preserve the balance of forces inside the magic and this way to preserve the magic as such."  
  
He paused for a moment. Everybody was listening very attentively and another female voice asked, "How can we stop this from happening?"  
  
"Well," he said, "you all know that it will take the Chosen Two to stop the bloodshed and create a peace between the Underworld and the mortal magic world. For centuries we, Lugels, were trying to find the Chosen Two using the information, which reached us through generations. We collected the pieces of the mystery, which were scattered all over this realm and other planes of existence. Many of our fellow friends lost their lives during this search but it was not in vain. We have got the information together. Twenty five years ago we accomplished our task and found the last piece," he stretched his hand towards the floating piece of parchment. "All of you know what was said on it but I will say it once again. "It will take one human but not one being, and a magic both black and white which was lost and acquired, the dead one who was killed but survived, and an innocent not by birth but by life, who will stop to be innocent when the love would strike both evil and good, and this love will bring back the hope". Ever since we got this puzzle we were not able to understand what it meant but recently there were some developments." He paused, "the message started to glow 3 months ago, the moment the Source was killed. Not all of the message was glowing," he corrected himself, "just one part of it talking about the "a magic both black and white which was lost and acquired, the dead one who was killed but survived". Initially it did not make any sense to us. So I went to the Underworld and collected some rumours and that's what I found out. The Source himself was killed several months ago by the Charmed Ones. However, the spirit of the Source went into the human Cole Turner. Cole Turner was in the past demon Belthazor, whom all of you heard about. He was half human and half demon. He was the best agent Triad has ever had. They sent him after the Charmed Ones but he fell in love with one of the witches, killed the Triad and since then he's been suppressing his demon half. The Source put a very high bail on his head but he survived all the attempts and actually killed a great number of demons himself. However, then he was stripped from his powers. From that point on everything becomes even more confusing. I think while trying to save his love he became possessed by the spirit of the Source and became the Source himself. From then onwards I don't think Cole Turner had any control, and the Spirit completely consumed him. He was trying to make one of the Charmed ones the Queen of the Underworld. However, when the Spirit threatened her life he got himself killed. Then the Spirit inhabited the unborn child of the Charmed one but was transferred by the Seer. At the end the Spirit, the Seer and the child are dead.  
  
"So you think that the Charmed one is the one," interrupted the man standing opposite the chairman, he had a distinct Slavonic accent, "but the description does not suit her."  
  
"No, Vladimir, no the Charmed one, but Cole Turner."  
  
"But he is dead."  
  
"Well, no, he is not dead. He has a soul and he is stuck in the wasteland clinging to his love to the witch. And this suits the description perfectly. "The dead one who was killed and survived". And if we get him the powers he will be "the magic that was lost and acquired"."  
  
"How can you be so sure?" another Lugel asked with a roaring Australian accent.  
  
"I am not sure but the message started to glow exactly when the Source died and Cole Turner got himself into the Wasteland. It never happened before, and nothing else happened at that time. I read a lot about Belthazor /Turner and collected a lot of rumours. The guy is very unusual. He is less than one and a half centuries old but he was very high in rank. His powers and the way he is thinking are very peculiar. He does not think like a demon and he does not think like a human. He is somewhere in between and very talented. He also knows how to suppress his demonic half. He fought on both sides of good and evil. So I think he might well be the one."  
  
There was quite a lot of buzz around the circle then Celina enquired, "If we assume that Cole Turner is the one of the Chosen Two then who is the other one?"  
  
The chairman's voice was very quiet, "This is not a mystery either. And here I have to apologize," he paused, "apologize to all of you. I have known who is the other one for a very long time."  
  
The whole Council seemed to explode suddenly with voices. The chairman lifted his hands asking for silence and when everybody got quiet he said. "Please, let me explain and try to understand. You know that when we got the last piece of the puzzle my brother died. He managed to pass me the piece but was too late to save himself. I was devastated but I knew that my brother died not for nothing. I went to his house and tried to comfort his family. His wife was taken to hospital and I brought my niece with me to the house. I wanted to put the puzzle together just to show my brother's soul before it left this plane that his death was not for nothing. So I took my niece to the office and left her sleeping in the chair and went to put the last piece on its place. It fitted perfectly and I knew that my brother was now content. But what happened next took me by complete surprise. My niece must have woken up and was now standing next to me. I wanted to take her away from the note but she put her hand on it and the puzzle started to glow. The same way as when the Source died. Only part of the message about the innocent was glowing. That moment I knew that my niece was the one. I did not tell anyone because she had to be kept innocent."  
  
"This is not an excuse to keep it from the Council," the male voice was full of disapproval, which has accentuated his Spanish accent. "You could have died and than we would never have found out. It was irresponsible of you, William."  
  
"I was trying to protect my niece, Carlos. Anyway, I admit my guilt to the Council and will take any punishment. I believe it was better for the girl not to find out too early."  
  
"You should have shared this with the Council," repeated Carlos, "you took too much on yourself. You knew when you became the Secretary of the Council that you had to sacrifice, and you should have done what was better for the goal."  
  
Another female voice interrupted both man. "I think accusing each other is not going to help. So what are we going to do now?"  
  
"You are right, Angela, I have been thinking a lot about it," said the Secretary, "and I would like to put a proposal to the Council. I think that it's time to bring them together. Firstly we have to get Cole Turner out of the Wasteland and give him his powers back and then we will have to bring Nicole to San Francisco. She lives and works in London at the moment. When she arrives we will have to proceed with activation of her powers. She has a lot to learn but I am sure she'll manage. That's my suggestions at the moment. The situation at the moment is very convenient. Underworld is in chaos and in need of a new leader. Cole Turner already kind-of is the Source. It would be possible to make him a new leader of the Underworld. Where as Nicole can become the head Elder. Together they would be able to get the agreement between the good and the evil and the magic world will get the break it needs for restoring the balance. We have been planning this for a long time. It will be very hard work for the whole Council but we have been waiting for this for so long that I am sure we will be able to cope with the stress and provide the necessary guidance for the Chosen Two."  
  
He looked around the hooded figures and spoke again. "I know it is a lot to take in but I would really appreciate your opinion. We will also have a vote on the situation."  
  
Everybody nodded and Australian Lugel said. "I have a problem believing that this half-demon is one of the Chosen Two. Yes, the message started to glow but may be it was to do with somebody born? How do you know it is him? We can't just trust him with this task without the proof."  
  
"Don't worry, Dorian, we will get proof," smiled William, "he is completely powerless now and I am going to make him touch the message and if it glows than we have the proof we need. If it does not he is not one of the Chosen Two and I will leave him to his fate. "  
  
Silence followed his words. He waited for a little while and said, "You all know how important this decision is. Am I understanding right that the Council has agreed to my proposition. "  
  
One after another the hooded figures nodded. Then Angela asked, "Who will go to the Wasteland?"  
  
"I will," the secretary said, "these are my findings and I will make sure it will go right. And not to waste time I will go right now after the Council meeting is adjoined." 


	2. Chapter 2 Wasteland

Chapter 2. Wasteland  
  
Cole felt shit. Ever since he got into the Wasteland he has been on the run. He was tired and only the thought of Phoebe kept him going. After he contacted her he was waiting for her to help him. He believed that she would save him. Now this hope was gone. Phoebe wanted to move on and to give up her powers. She did not want to be with him or help him, she did not want even to hear about him. Why the hell he struggled so much? Why did he try to fight the Source? Why did he got himself killed and why he was fighting now to survive? He must be a complete masochistic idiot trying to prolong his own misery. It would be much easier to get gobbled up by this disgusting monstrous worm and get it over and done with. Cole turned his head to already too familiar sound of the beast approaching but instead of running for his life away from it he walked straight toward the sound. The ugly head of the beast had already appeared out of the ground. He heard another demon approaching the wasteland when everything around him froze. Cole stared for a moment on the beast motionless in front of him and demonic essence hanging not far away from his head. He stretched his hand to reach this essence when he felt his body frozen and heard a calm voice behind him said, "You do not want those powers."  
  
Cole jerked his head and saw a man in late 50s, dressed in grey robe. The man had a little smile on his face and looked at Cole with the expression of calm interest.  
  
"Who the hell are you?" asked Cole, who was a great deal surprised to see somebody freezing the Wasteland.  
  
"My name is William Schwarzlight. I don't think you know me."  
  
"I am pretty sure, I don't," Cole snapped.  
  
"Well, then this is the time we get acquainted. But first let me check something. Don't worry I am not going to hurt you. "  
  
He held out his hand and a piece of parchment appeared in his palm. Then he waved his hand over Cole's right arm, which got Cole's arm unfrozen. The man carefully took Cole's hand and placed it on top of the parchment. In amazement Cole saw the parchment glowing in a beautiful blue shine. Schwarzlight smiled broadly and said more to himself then to Cole:  
  
"I thought so."  
  
"You thought so?" Cole repeated. "Thought what? Who the hell are you and what do you want from me?"  
  
"I am one of the Lugels. I am sure you heard about us."  
  
This time Cole was even more shocked. Lugels were legends. They stood between or better say above the good and evil. They were very powerful; the rumours were that Lugels possessed ability to tap into the matter of the Universe and transfer it into any power imaginable. Cole had never seen a Lugel. He believed nobody had ever seen them, even the Source. They kept their identities very secret. They were the money-makers, doctors, teachers and guards of the magical world. They never took sides. They helped both good and evil. They were protectors of magical world from exposure to the mortal realm and everybody cooperated with them. Cole knew that in the past the Source tried to battle them for their money and power and he had failed. The Council of the Underworld had to find a new Source. Lugels could be merciless when it came to protecting themselves and the magic world. All he knew about Lugels were more legends than facts. Apparently they all looked like humans, lived in the mortal world. They were excellent shape shifters and this way could hide their identity.  
  
"I want to talk to you, Mr Turner and would really appreciate your attention. I will unfreeze you completely if you promise that you are not going to do anything stupid. We don't have much time. Keeping the Wasteland frozen for a long time is not very safe. And we have a lot to talk about."  
  
Cole thought about it for a second. He did not lose anything by talking to the Lugel. Hey, he did not have anything to lose anyway. And in all honesty he was curious what Lugels wanted from him. So he nodded in agreement and immediately felt himself being released.  
  
"From your reaction I understand that you have heard about Lugels before," started Schwarzlight. "I suspect that part of what you have heard is true and part of it is just a myth. However, I don't have time at the moment to tell you what is true and what is not. The main aim of Lugels is to protect the world of magic and keep the balance of forces inside it and for as long as we existed we managed to preserve this balance. However, now the Magic world faces one of the biggest threats. And this is that evil and good has been at war for many generations to the point that if the peace is not negotiated within next few months we will face a total extinction. For a long time now we have been monitoring the situation and..." he stopped because Cole's body suddenly froze. Schwarzlight rushed to him but the voice coming from the usual dark but now all over sudden light blue sky of the Wasteland said, "He is fine, don't worry about him."  
  
Schwarzlight looked at the sky and the sign of understanding and of sadness and worry came to his face. "It's time?" he asked more like stating the fact.  
  
"Yes, it is," the voice came.  
  
"But what will happen to our plan?"  
  
"Everything will go along as it should be. You did well, however, things like this cannot be planned. Your task was to find the Chosen Two which you did. Now it is their turn to take things forward."  
  
"But they don't know anything," protested Schwarzlight.  
  
"This is only partially true. There are others who will be able to help them with some things and some things they will have to find out themselves. There are things, which should be done without interference. The Chosen Two are supposed to bring the peace to the magic world. They need to be exceptional individuals in order to achieve that and if you are going to hold their hands all the time how will they become these individuals?!"  
  
Schwarzlight nodded but his face was still sad.  
  
"You are sad that you are not going to see your niece," the voice continued.  
  
"She is just so innocent, she does not know anything," Schwarzlight said quietly.  
  
"You did your share you found the one who will be with her."  
  
Schwarzlight quickly raised his head. "Do you mean that he," Schwarzlight pointed at Cole, "is going to be..."  
  
"It is all in the Destinies hands. You, if anyone, should know."  
  
Schwarzlight nodded.  
  
"You have 5 minutes to finish here and get back. Then you know what will happen. You have 40 days."  
  
Schwarzlight nodded again. The sky went dark and Cole felt normal again.  
  
"What was that?" he asked suspiciously. "You promised not to freeze me if I behaved? I don't remember doing anything wrong."  
  
"It was not me," Schwarzlight said, "it was the Power beyond my control. We have even less time than I though. And I don't have time to explain everything I wanted. The truth is," - he paused for a moment thinking hard how to get Cole to do what he wanted without long explanations. All his life William Schwarzlight thought about his duty first and about himself and people he loved second. He sacrificed his loved ones for the big aim. He always thought he would have time to repay them but now he knew he did not have this time. He made his decision. He looked at Cole and said. "I have an offer to make. I have a niece. She is the only living relative I have. She is half mortal like you. Her father was a Lugel like me. She does not know about her magical heritage, she thinks she is an ordinary mortal. She has a big future ahead of her. But she needs to be taught about her powers and about what she is. I will give you your powers back and take you back to the mortal realm if you swear to me that you will protect my niece and teach her everything she needs to know."  
  
Cole was stunned. It did not make any sense.  
  
"But what about you?" he asked, "why don't you protect you niece."  
  
"I will not be there when she comes to San Francisco," Schwarzlight sighed, "My time in this world is almost over. Look, Cole, we don't have time for long thinking sessions. I need an answer."  
  
Cole looked at him. For the first time Lugel looked worried and agitated. His eyes were looking straight at Cole and there was almost pleading in them.  
  
"Why me?" Cole asked.  
  
Schwarzlight hesitated for a second, "Because you are what you are. You are half human. So is my niece. You know what means to suppress your magic side. You know demons and you know witches. You don't think about the world as black and white. You are not totally evil and not totally good."  
  
"I was," Cole snapped, "I was the Source of all Evil and I was a mortal."  
  
Schwarzlight smiled with a kind and even paternal smile, "Yes and no. That's why you are so unique," he looked at the sky and said, "Cole, I would love to give you more time. But I don't have it. What will you say?"  
  
Cole knew that he already decided. He would take this offer and try again with Phoebe. It would give them another chance even if she didn't not want it. And then he had a gut feeling that the Lugel was honest and that the destiny of his niece was important to the whole world of magic. He looked straight into the Schwarzlight eyes and said, "If there is no other constraints I will accept your deal."  
  
He saw Lugel sigh with relief and smile, "No more constraints. Teach and protect my niece; that is the only one." He stretched his hand and Cole shook it. Immediately Cole felt that they both started to shimmer and at the same time he felt powers flowing into him from the Lugel. Schwarzlight planned to just grant Cole his powers as Belthazor when he felt his own powers leaving him and flowing into Cole and then he heard a voice in his head. "He will be the one who replaces you," and the image of Cole in grey robe like his own standing on the platform of the Lugels Council filled his head." Schwarzlight could not believe it. They finished shimmering and Cole found himself in his penthouse. There was a letter lying on the table with his name. He opened it and read.  
  
"Dear Cole,  
  
This apartment is yours. So is the car in front of the building and the accounts, details of which you will find in the office. It is yours to do what you like. You also have your job back.  
  
You have 40 days to adjust to your life. Then expect a visitor.  
  
Yours truly,  
  
William Schwarzlight"  
  
**************  
  
Forty days later the housekeeper found William Shcwarzlight dead in his bed. It seemed that the old man died from heart failure in his sleep. On the other side of town Cole Turner woke up with a massive hangover after his alarm went off. After a 20 minutes shower and 3 tablets of painkiller he got into his Porsche and drove to work. It promised to be a very long day: the first day for him as a divorced man. When he finally got home in the evening he picked up his mail and found a letter in a black envelope. Cole opened it and found a white card with just 3 lines.  
  
William Schwarzlight  
  
Died 2003  
  
XXX Cemetery, Thursday March 2003, 11 am  
  
So William Schwarzlight was dead. It meant that his niece if what Lugel told Cole was truth was going to arrive soon. Last months Cole had been too busy trying to win Phoebe back that he hadn't given much thought to his encounter with the Lugel. He knew that the powers he received exceeded anything he ever had even when being a Source. And invincibility was indeed very nice. However, he could not decide whether he believed what the Lugel told him. He had a feeling that in the beginning of their conversation Lugel wanted to talk to him about something really important. He was talking about the war between the good and the evil and about the Lugels' mission to protect the magic world as such. But then the Lugel changed. Cole had been trying to put his finger on what changed but he could not. Lugel just seemed to run out of time and just offered him powers in return for helping his niece. That sounded really weird. Cole did not even know if he believed that Schwarzlight's niece existed. But he had this gut feeling that whatever was about to happen would change his life forever. 


	3. Chapters 3&4

Thanks very much to everybody who reviewed my fanfic. Here are the next two chapters.  
  
Chapter 3.  
  
Nicole Berg did not have a good day. She spent all weekend doing financial projections for her boss but when she gave it to him on Monday morning he found lots of things wrong with it and criticized her non stop for 40 min. Nicole was ready to tell him that if he was so unhappy with her work it was surprising he hadn't fired her yet. But the thought that if she kept working in 3 months she would have enough money to put in a deposit for a very nice two bedroom flat had made her keep this thought to herself. Not having flatmates was worth much more than a spoiled mood. Anyway by the time Nicole got out of her bosses office she felt knackered and not in any mood for work. She just got back to her desk when the phone rang. She dropped the report on the desk and grabbed the phone. "Hello!"  
  
"Good morning!" said a very well modulated voice, "can I speak to Miss Berg?"  
  
"Speaking."  
  
"Good morning Miss Berg, my name is Andrew Gardner. I am a senior partner in the law firm Sly&Sally. We represent Mr William SÑhwarzlight."  
  
"Uncle Will?" Nicole uttered interrupting him.  
  
The noise in the phone told her that he smiled. "Well, I suppose that for you he is uncle Will," becoming official he said, "can you please confirm to me your full name and date of birth so I know I am speaking to the right person."  
  
"My name is Nicole Angelina Berg. Born 17th April 1974. "  
  
"And your parents' names?"  
  
"My mother is Katherine Berg and my father's name was Robert Schwarzlight."  
  
"Thank you very much. Well, miss Berg, I am afraid I have bad news. Your uncle passed away on Friday night. I am very sorry."  
  
Nicole bit her lip. It was a strange feeling. She did not know uncle Will very well. To tell the truth she did not know him at all. He was her idol for so long and then became somebody she hated so much. She made herself not to think about him but now she suddenly felt that she lost somebody very important in her life.  
  
"Miss Berg," she heard the lawyer's voice, "are you alright?"  
  
"Yes," she tried to get her thoughts back into the conversation, "I am fine. How... how did he die?"  
  
"It was a heart failure. He died in his sleep."  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"Miss Berg, I know it is not easy for you. But I have some news about your uncle's will. Our American colleagues passed them to me. It is important that you hear it as soon as possible. Will it be possible for you to meet with me in my office sometime today?"  
  
"Yes," she nodded, "of course. What time?"  
  
"If it's convenient for you than as soon as possible. I believe that this is a very urgent matter. I will also ask you to kindly bring with you your passport and birth certificate."  
  
"Yes, I will pick them up on the way to your office."  
  
"Then I am looking forward meeting you. And I am sorry again to bring such bad news."  
  
"That's OK," she squeezed out a small smile.  
  
Two hours later Nicole was entering the offices of Sly and Sally. "Uncle Will must have been loaded if he could afford such lawyers", she thought. The office she entered was very big and spacious even by London standards. Designer furniture, beautiful plants and 3 secretaries in the front desk told her that the charges for this lawyer's time must have been pretty high. She was led into the big meeting room. Almost immediately the door in the opposite wall opened and a man in his late forties walked in.  
  
"Miss Berg?" he stretched his hand, "my name is Andrew Gardner. We spoke on the phone earlier."  
  
"Yes," she smiled, "Nice to meet you."  
  
He smiled broadly, eyeing her figure with obvious approval. "The pleasure is all mine. Please sit down. Would you like a coffee?"  
  
"Water, please."  
  
He poured her a glass and set in the chair. He opened a big file lying in front of him. "Miss Berg, your uncle was a client of our firm for several decades and I had a pleasure of meeting him several times myself. We are truly sorry for his death. He was very nice man."  
  
She smiled at him again. "Thank you."  
  
"Your uncle mainly dealt with our office in San Francisco. So his main will is going to be announced there. We are here only to arrange your journey to the States."  
  
"You mean I have to go to the States to hear his will?"  
  
"I am afraid so. It was particular wish of your uncle that the entire will should be announced in the US after the funeral. It is also a condition of the inheritance that if you do not attend his funeral you will lose all rights to your share of the inheritance."  
  
Nicole was surprised. "Isn't it a bit strange?"  
  
He shrugged. "If you practice law for 25 years you find that there are much more strange wishes. Your uncle had a lot of business interests in the US and therefore if you are going to inherit some of them you would probably have to move to the US anyway. He just wants to secure that the heir will be able to take an active part managing his interests. I have to admit that my colleagues probably have advised your uncle to put this condition in. Any corporate lawyer would have done the same."  
  
"Oh, I understand now."  
  
"The funerals will take place in 3 days. So if you agree we will book you a flight for tomorrow morning. This will leave you plenty of time to cope with the jet lag before the ceremony. The announcement of your uncle's will is going to take place straight after the funeral in our offices in San Francisco."  
  
Nicole felt that an avalanche was falling on her head. "Wait a minute, it means I will have to fly tomorrow! Tomorrow I have to fly over the Atlantic?!"  
  
"Well, yes. Is there a problem?"  
  
Nicole felt a bit embarrassed. "Yes, there is a problem. I don't fly. I have never flown since... since I was a child and I don't want to start now. And please don't laugh. It's not funny. My farther died in a plane crash."  
  
"I am not laughing miss Nicole and I understand your fear but we need to find a way out because unless you are present at your uncle's funeral on Thursday you will be simply deleted from his will. And you don't want to do it, believe me. Your uncle was a very wealthy man, miss Berg. I don't think it is going to be wise of you not to go just because you are scared of flying."  
  
"I am not just scared of flying; I am absolutely terrified of it. I will not survive a 12 h long flight over the Atlantic. My dad was flying to San Francisco but he never got there. They said it was a pilot's error. Now there are terrorism threats, companies are short of cash, planes fly for longer and with less service. Trust me I will be absolutely insane by the time I get to San Francisco and if I am locked in the mental institution I don't think my inheritance would be of much use to me there."  
  
Andrew frowned. His look became thoughtful. Then he quickly got up. "Would you wait here for a second? I just need to check on something."  
  
Before she could answer he left the room. Nicole was grateful for a few moments of solitude. This morning was completely out of normal. So many things happened and so many more things were about to happen. A whole new life was just 24 h away. However, 12 h of those she would have to spend stuck in the plane. One thought of being stuck in the little dot 30 thousand feet above the Atlantic made her shiver. But not going meant to be stuck in the life she had forever. It meant she would never find out anything about uncle Will. It meant that her mother would succeed in separating her from everything and everybody related to her farther forever and Nicole was determined she would not give her mother such pleasure. She so much hoped Andrew will find a solution and if not she will get completely plastered on the plane, so it will knock her off. At this moment Andrew came in into the office and he had a smile on his face.  
  
"I have got good news miss Berg. I just remembered that one of our junior staff has serious problem with flying as well. I have just spoken to her and she gave me address of this doctor who prescribed her very strong sedative. Basically she took one pill the moment she got on board of the plane and slept through the whole flight. You will be obviously a bit sleepy when you get to San Francisco, however we will arrange somebody from our staff to pick you up, help you through customs and drop you off at the hotel. You will have plenty of time to recover before the funeral. So what do you say?"  
  
Nicole smiled broadly, "I think it's an excellent idea."  
  
"Well, thank you, and I am very glad. We will order you a ticket straight away. 1st class obviously, so you will be comfortable."  
  
"That's sounds great." Nicole smiled happily. She could feel that it was the beginning of a new life very different from how she lived so far.  
  
Thirty six hours latter Nicole Berg landed in San Francisco, she felt a little bit dizzy after two sedative pills but was happy to finally arrive. She was picked up by a young girl who turned out to be a secretary and put into the luxurious hotel De Wille. Nicole slept 15 hours straight and also dreamed for 15 h straight. These were very strange dreams with lots of flames and fire and with visions of people she never met. In the morning Nicole took a cab to the San Francisco office of Sly&Sally, which turned out to be even plusher than the one in London. She was greeted by the secretary and summoned into the large meeting room. There she was greeted by a middle-aged man who looked at her with polite smile.  
  
"Miss Berg, pleasure to meet you. My name is Eric Sally. I am a senior partner and you uncle's attorney."  
  
"Nice to meet you," Nicole smiled.  
  
"I am really sorry about your uncle. He was our client for the past 40 years."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
He offered her a seat and opened a big file in front of him. "As, you know, miss Berg, your uncle died last Friday. His funeral will be held tomorrow and the details of his will are going to be announced straight afterwards. According to the will of you uncle your presence is required for the funerals. And unless this condition is met you will be excluded from the will. My colleague probably mentioned to you that your uncle was a very wealthy man therefore it is in your interests to be present at his funeral."  
  
Nicole nodded, "Yes, Mr Gardner has already mentioned this."  
  
"Good," he smiled. "The funeral will take place tomorrow morning at the mausoleum of Schwarzlight family. Here are the instructions how to get there. If you prefer, we can arrange to pick you up."  
  
"Thank you," Nicole smiled.  
  
"Well," he continued, "at the moment I can't tell you much else except I have something for you from your uncle." He handed her a thick envelope. "You can read it here or take it with you, whatever is more convenient."  
  
Nicole thought for a minute. "I think, I'll read it in my hotel room."  
  
"As you wish...," he smiled coolly and got up, "then I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
Nicole could not wait to get to the hotel and finally read the first letter from her uncle, the first letter from anybody from her father's side of the family. Finally she got to her room and ripped the envelope.  
  
"Dear Nicole,  
  
I know that if you are reading this letter it means that I was not able to tell you all this myself. I don't know how much you know about me or if you ever think about me. I also don't know if you are mad at me or indifferent to me but I will try to explain everything the best I can.  
  
When my brother met your mother and they fell in love I was very happy. They got married very quickly and then had you. It was a happy time in Schwarzlight's family. You were such a lovely baby. But then things went wrong. When my brother died Katherine was devastated. And then all her anger turned into our family and me. She said that we brought her only grief and wanted nothing to do with any of us. She packed everything, took you and left back to England. In the beginning I thought she would recover but as time went by she became even more bitter and averse. I tried to reason with her but she refused to speak to me. Moreover she threatened that if I attempted to contact her ever again she will take you away where none of us will ever find you. At that moment I gave up. I know it was wrong of me but I thought at least this way I could know that you were OK. I paid the private detective and he always kept an eye on you. So I had pictures of you all the time when you were growing up. They are in this envelope so you know I am not lying.  
  
When you went to University and I knew that you did not have good relationship with your mother, I thought that I would be able to give you some support and hoped that you would accept it. When I received your letter I was so happy but the same day I met Katherine. She basically threatened that if I attempt to respond to your letter she will do something which destroys you and everything I worked for in my life. I can't explain everything in this letter but you will find everything out in time.  
  
I know Nicole that we never really met I have not seen you since you were 4 years old. I know it was my fault at some part but hope that you will find the heart to forgive me.  
  
This letter may seem a bit strange to you but I have little time and want to let you know important things. Everything around you is very unfamiliar to you. So if I can't be with you I hope you will accept help from my friend Cole Turner. He lives at the XXX St,321. So don't wait too long before you go and see him. He can be of great help to you. And bring him with you to the funeral. You will need some support there.  
  
And just remember I always loved you and even if far away I knew about your success and I am very-very proud of you.  
  
Your Uncle  
  
William Schwarzlight"  
  
She looked at the pictures in the envelope. All of them looked like they were used a lot. Tears formed in her eyes. It was not fair that somebody who used to love her so much was never close to her. She looked through all the pictures and her whole life came in front of her eyes. Emotions overwhelmed Nicole and she started crying like she has not cried since she was a child.  
  
Chapter 4.  
  
Cole had a long and busy day at work. When he finally got home all he wanted was a hot shower and a drink. He poured himself a scotch and was about to get changed when he heard a knock on the door. He looked through the pip whole and frowned. He did not know this woman but something about her was familiar. He opened the door, "Can I help you?"  
  
Nicole was impressed. She did not think that her uncle's friend would be young and that handsome. She realized that she was still staring at him and tried to compose herself, "Mr Turner?" her voice sounded a bit husky and had a distinct English accent, "Cole Turner?"  
  
"Yes," Cole looked at the woman. She was tall and slim in her late twenties with shining blond hair and big green eyes, which twinkled in the light.  
  
"My name is Nicole Berg; I am the niece of William Schwarzlight. I believe that you knew my uncle well."  
  
It was Cole's turn to stare at the woman. Now that she said it Nicole did remind him of the late Lugel. However, he never thought she would be so young and beautiful. For some reason he had imagined her very differently. Finally Cole found his tongue. "Uh, Miss Berg, I am glad to see you. And sorry about your uncle."  
  
"Thank you," she put on a small smile.  
  
"Please come in," he stepped aside allowing her to enter his penthouse.  
  
"You have a nice place here," Nicole commented.  
  
"Yes," he smiled politely, "I like it here."  
  
They both paused. Cole did not know what he was supposed to say or do. So he left it to Nicole to start the conversation. Nicole herself felt very nervous. She did not imagine Cole Turner like this. She thought her uncle's friend would be an old man telling her stories about the childhood of her uncle and may be her father. Anyway she had to say something. "Well, Mr Turner..."  
  
He interrupted, "You can call me Cole."  
  
"Oh, thank you," her smile broadened a bit, "I don't know how much my uncle told you about me. I am his niece, I was brought up in England and actually arrived just yesterday to San Francisco," she paused, "for the funeral."  
  
His expressions sobered. "Yes, I got the card as well," he pointed to the table.  
  
"So you will be coming as well?"  
  
Cole hesitated, he did not really intend to go but he saw a hopeful expression in her eyes. For a long time nobody looked at him with such eyes. "Yes, of course, I am going to be there. I can give you a lift if you want."  
  
"Oh that'd be great," she smiled again. "I don't really know anybody from my uncle's circle of friends and acquaintances."  
  
He smiled, "Oh, I know how it feels."  
  
She returned his smile. Cole smiled back and caught himself that he was smiling a lot since Nicole came into her apartment. On the other hand he was alone now for so long. Colleagues from work did not count. He never really had a chat with anybody outside work since, well, since his divorce with Phoebe. And even before then their conversations more reminded him of a kick boxing exercise. He stopped his thoughts from swooping onto his wife, well, ex-wife, Cole reminded himself. "Miss Berg, I was just planning to have something to eat so if you would like to join me we can talk over dinner."  
  
"You can call me Nicole and I'll be delighted to join you. "  
  
They made their way downstairs to Cole's car.  
  
"It's a nice car you have."  
  
"Thanks, I like it too," he grinned.  
  
After they placed their orders, Cole asked, "So you live in London," he asked Nicole, "what do you do?"  
  
"Oh, I am an investment manager for XXX Plc."  
  
"Oh!" Cole was surprised.  
  
"What?" Nicole looked curiously at him  
  
"Nothing." Cole pulled a blank expression on his face. But Nicole stared at him and curtly asked.  
  
"You never thought that a blond girl like me could have a serious job?" her eyebrows shot up.  
  
"No," Cole could have bitten his tongue but then softly chuckled. "Look, I'll be honest, I had no idea what job you did, but all investment managers I've ever seen in my life, and I have seen quite a few, were very boring men in expensive suits and you don't look particularly boring."  
  
Nicole laughed. "Good move. You managed to wiggle your way out of a very tricky situation and even score points." He did not answer, only smiled. Nicole looked in his piercing blue eyes and felt her heart speed up a bit. Cole Turner was very good-looking and therefore very dangerous. To calm herself down Nicole took a sip of her drink and asked, "So what do you do?"  
  
"I am a partner in a law firm."  
  
"Thought so," Nicole had a very pleased smile on her face.  
  
"You thought so?"  
  
"Yes, from the moment I saw you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Well, you look like a professional, you live in a very plush penthouse, you drive an expensive car. So you must be either a lawyer, a doctor or a finance person. Your comment about finance people meant you were not one yourself, so it left me with the choice of a lawyer and a doctor. But you are not a doctor that was obvious, which left me with a lawyer."  
  
"Why not a doctor?" Cole asked curiously.  
  
Nicole shook her head. "No way, you don't have this "you can be my next patient" attitude as all doctors have."  
  
Cole laughed. "Well, you were right. I am a lawyer."  
  
"Good, than you can probably answer my question. My uncle has put a clause into his will that if I don't attend his funeral I will lose out on my inheritance. Is this normal?"  
  
"When it comes to wills there is nothing normal. They are very interesting documents and sometimes contain the most bizarre conditions. I think that this one is one of the most normal ones."  
  
"Good, I am glad that uncle Will was not a weirdo. So how was he?" Nicole took a sip of her martini. "Please, tell me about my uncle Will, how did you two meet?"  
  
That was the question Cole did not really want to answer. He had a feeling that Nicole had no idea that her uncle was a Lugel. Hell, she had no idea what magic was other then tricks of David Copperfield. So he could not really come up with "hey, your uncle and I met in the place mortals call "Hell" where my soul went after my wife and her sisters vanquished me". However, he did not really want to start their acquaintance with a big fat lie. After a moment of hesitation Cole decided to lie but stay as close to the truth as possible.  
  
"Well," he paused, "we met about a month and a half ago. I was out of the job and generally not going through the best part of my life. Your uncle got me my job back. So I kind of owed him a favour. He was really worried about you and asked me to help you when you'd get to San Francisco".  
  
She frowned, "You mean that he knew he would not be able to do it himself?"  
  
"Damn," Cole scolded in his head. What did William Schwarzlight think about! What the hell had he meant by "helping"? Helping a young Lugel to master her powers was one thing. But explaining to a woman who had always thought she was normal and mortal that she is one of the most powerful magical beings in the world was a very different story. Schwarzlight should have told her himself. Cole felt guilty. He should have thought about it before. He was so preoccupied with himself and Phoebe that he never even thought about the promise he made to William Schwarzlight. He knew that he would have to help his niece to master her powers. And he was totally prepared to keep his promise. But he never thought about her as a human being, a woman, who had beautiful green eyes and nice smile.  
  
"Cole?" Nicole's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Is everything OK? Did you hear my question?"  
  
"Yes, everything is fine. It's just I did not think about it before," that was a complete truth, "but now, when you mentioned it I understood that you were right. He must have known that he would not see you himself. I am sorry."  
  
She took a sip of her drink and said in a calm voice, "You have nothing to be sorry about. It's a peculiarity of my family and has nothing to do with you."  
  
Cole could hear tension in her voice, Nicole also felt it and to calm down had downed her glass of martini. "I might as well tell you," she continued, "or you'll start wondering about my family. I don't know much about them. My mom is English. She is a lawyer and in the 70's she went to the US on probation. There she met my father. He was a lawyer as well. So they fell in love, got married and had me. They were apparently very happy though I don't know much about it. My mother never told me much. I remember though that Uncle William visited us very often. He brought me these fantastic toys. When I was 4 years old my farther died in an accident, plane crash. And then everything changed. My mother got completely mad. She thought that my uncle and all the family here were guilty of the grief she experienced. She packed everything and moved to England with me. I know that Uncle William came to England shortly after we moved there. But my mother did not want to talk to him. He never came back. And now I found out from the letter of Uncle Will today she threatened to take me away. So he never tried again. That's how it happens that I don't know my uncle. When I arrived here I got the letter from my uncle in which he advised me to meet with you, that's you are his friend. So I hoped you could tell me something about him."  
  
Cole frowned. He felt sorry for Nicole but also very unsure of what to do. Should he tell her the truth now, or should he wait until after the funeral. Their food arrived and this gave Cole time to collect his thoughts. He understood that she was determined to find out everything she could about Schwarzlight. He sighed and spoke up carefully choosing his words. "Look, Nicole, as I said before I know very little about your uncle. We met only a month and a half ago. "  
  
"But than why Uncle Will picked you among all his friends to help me?"  
  
Cole mentally left an exasperated sigh and felt the urge to blur out of the restaurant. Nicole for some reasons felt guilty. "Look Cole, I am sorry. I did not mean to intrude on you with all these questions. I guess I am very nervous. Tomorrow is the funeral. There will be lots of people there and I don't know anybody. I don't even know how my uncle looked. I never had any pictures of him and the envelope I got from the lawyers did not contain one and I did not want to ask them. I just hope he has not changed much in the last 25 years. You are the only link I have to him and I am desperate to find out what was my uncle like? What did he do in life? I have feeling like there is some sort of big secret behind this and nobody tells me. I suppose I always searched for the explanation of who my father and my uncle were and why my mother hated him so much and why she never allowed us to be in touch. I hoped that one day Uncle Will would tell me about all this but now there is little chance, is it?"  
  
Cole was really touched by her outburst. "Nicole, the way you feel is completely normal. I am sorry I can't help you much at the moment. But I honestly believe that a lot will be explained in your uncle's will. Wait until tomorrow and a lot will become clearer. Your uncle had his reasons when he asked me to help you and believe me I will do my best. But at the moment we just have to wait."  
  
Nicole looked deep in his eyes and believed him. She was sure that Cole knew more than he said. He did not try particularly hard to hide it. But for some reason he did not want to tell her now. And at the moment Nicole decided to believe his reasons. "Fine," she said. "I'll wait till tomorrow as you want."  
  
Cole took a deep breath. He knew that Nicole did not believe him but she was prepared to wait and at the moment it was all he needed. His cell phone rang, he excused himself and picked up the phone. "Cole Turner."  
  
"Good evening, Mr Turner, sorry for phoning so late. My name is Eric Sally. I am a senior partner in the law firm Sly&Sally."  
  
Cole had heard about them, it was one of the biggest law firms in town and they had a very good relationship with Jackman, Carter. and. Kline himself used to work for Sly&Sally in the past and moved to become a partner in Jackman and Carter about 5 years ago. But he still had a lot of friends in Sly&Sally. So Cole replied very politely. "How can I help you Mr. Sally?"  
  
"I am sorry that I bother you so late. But this matter is quite urgent and I asked Paul Kline for your cell number. I hope you don't mind."  
  
"Not at all," Cole replied wondering what urgent matters could Eric Sally have with him?! He did not have to wait long for the explanation.  
  
"Well, we have just been looking through the will of our client, Mr. Schwarzlight. I presume you knew him."  
  
Cole was surprised. "Yes, I knew him."  
  
"Well, we looked through the will and it seems that our junior partner made a mistake and missed your name among the people, mentioned in his will. Mr Schwarzlight requested your presence at his funeral and also at the announcement of the will. Both events take place tomorrow and I sincerely hope that you can make it. I have already agreed with you bosses that you meetings will be rescheduled for another day."  
  
Cole was astonished. Schwarzlight had mentioned him in his will?! That was weird. The late Lugel had already fulfilled his part of the deal.  
  
"Mr. Turner," the lawyer's voice interrupted Cole's thoughts, "do you think you will be able to make it. It's really important that you attend the funeral because the will contains a clause in it that if you don't you will be deleted from the heirs."  
  
Cole was not surprise to hear about this clause. He already heard about it from Nicole. The only thing he wondered about was whether the same clause applied to other heirs. "Yes, I will be attending the funeral and the will announcement afterward. I was planning to attend it anyway; I got the card earlier this week."  
  
"That's great." Eric sounded relieved. "Well, I will not interrupt your evening any more. I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
Cole hung up the phone and returned to the table. Nicole looked curiously at him. "Everything OK?"  
  
"Yes," Cole sat down. "It actually was you uncle's lawyer. They seemed to have missed part of the will before, so apparently I am mentioned there as well and I have to attend the funeral and should come to the will announcement."  
  
"Oh," Cole expected Nicole to be surprised but she was not.  
  
"You are not surprised?" he exclaimed.  
  
"No, not really. Don't know why. I think I have passed the surprise stage. There have been way too many of those recently."  
  
He nodded and then stiffened. A couple just entered the restaurant. And this couple was Phoebe and her new boyfriend Jason Dean. Cole had not seen Phoebe since their divorce five days ago and now he was not prepared for it. Nicole who was looking at Cole saw him freeze and stare at the entrance. She followed his gaze and saw a dark haired petite woman and a blond tall guy next to her. The waiter invited them to follow him and she saw Cole's eyes following the couple.  
  
"Is this your ex?"  
  
The sound of her voice pulled Cole out of his stupor. "Ah?" he looked up at her. "What did you say?"  
  
"Is this your ex?" she nodded towards Phoebe and Jason.  
  
"Yes," he took a deep breath, "it's my ex wife."  
  
"I am sorry," she said sincerely, "do you want to go?"  
  
"No," Cole tried to concentrate his attention on Nicole. "There is no need." he smiled at her. "Do you fancy some desert?"  
  
"After all that food? No way I won't be able to get up."  
  
Cole felt somebody staring at him and he did not have to guess twice who it was. Phoebe had finally discovered his presence and he could feel her eyes boring into the side of his had. His features tensed and Nicole noticed it. "Cole, you are trying so hard not to look at your ex wife and your smile is so tensed that I am surprise how are you not exploding. Look, I don't want to interfere in your life and don't want to cause any offence. I just think that either we can stay here and ruin perfectly pleasant evening or we can go and enjoy a drink somewhere else."  
  
He appreciated her honesty, she did not try to ignore the situation but also did not try to ask any questions and the most important she was right. It was also right that he didn't run every time he'd see Phoebe but at the moment he was tired, he had had a long day and it was going to be a long day tomorrow. He sighed and nodded. "You're right. Let's go." he pulled his wallet out and the waiter immediately appeared on his side. When they were leaving the restaurant Cole shot a quick glance at Phoebe. She was smiling at Jason Dean and shot similar quick glance at Cole. Their eyes met and then Cole turned his gaze away. There was no point trying to see feelings, which were not there. The night breeze touched his face.  
  
"So where do you want to go?" he asked trying to sound casual.  
  
"I guess you want to go home," Nicole said, "that's fine by me. You already have cheered up my evening. Otherwise I would be sitting in my hotel and enjoying the 400th rerun of Cheers."  
  
Cole chuckled. After the encounter with Phoebe he expected that he would want to go back to the Penthouse and sit there feeling miserably. But for some reason he did not feel like it at the moment. For a long time he has been stuck in a complete solitude and it was the first time he enjoyed a dinner and chat with somebody who was not a client and who was not telling him that he was an evil bastard. He definitely welcomed the change and said in a slightly mocked voice. "Who says I want to go home?"  
  
She looked at him curiously, "You kidding me? I thought it was a rule: meet your ex – want to be alone?"  
  
Cole shook his head. "Been there, done that. So unless you are not too tired we can go for a drink. I actually know a nice place just round the corner."  
  
"No, I am not tired. After sleeping for 30 h straight you have a lot of energy."  
  
"Thirty hours?"  
  
She laughed, "Yes, see, I'm scared of flying, absolutely terrified to be honest. So I took a sleeping pill, actually two, and slept for 14 hours on the plane and 15 hours afterwards."  
  
"That's impressive. So flying is your phobia? Anything else?"  
  
"No, this is the only one. What about you?"  
  
"I don't really know, never came across one."  
  
"Lucky you."  
  
They kept talking until very late and when he dropt her off at the hotel it was already past midnight. Nicole went to her room and in her head she still saw Cole, how he was in this bar they went to: relaxed, confident, funny. On the other hand back at the restaurant he looked completely hung up on his wife and therefore slightly vulnerable. This was dangerous, very- very dangerous. So it was a nice night out and it should be the only night with him. She could remember how it started with Chris and where it led. One "just divorced man" in a lifetime was enough. 


	4. Chapter 5 The Will

Thanks very much for the reviews. Here is the next chapter. Hope you'll enjoy it. Let me know what you think.  
  
Chapter 5. The Will.  
  
Next morning Cole woke up really early and caught himself smiling once again. He slept well, he did not have a hangover and he had had a nice time last night. Cole liked Nicole. She was beautiful, intelligent, easy to get on with and had almost an unbelievable sense of tact. She could have been perfect for a one-night stand or even a short fling. However, they would probably have to spend a lot of time together while he'd trained her and therefore a short fling was not an option. He did not want to get too close to any woman right now. He was not ready for a relationship and especially, one where magic was involved. Therefore extra caution would be useful. Yesterday he had a nice evening and it would be for the best to leave it at that.  
  
****************************  
  
Morning in Halliwell Manor was unusually quiet. Paige came late from her date. Piper and Leo enjoyed a rare lie-in free from charges, sisters and demons. Phoebe was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. Seeing Cole yesterday brought back memories, feelings-everything. And seeing him with this tall, blonde miss Catwalk brought something Phoebe never felt before: jealousy. She could lie to Cole, to her sisters, to Jason, but she could not lie to herself. The thought of another woman next to Cole bothered her. She did not want him back but she also did not want him to find somebody else. Anyway he was too dangerous for any woman. This miss Catwalk did not deserve to be with him... Meaning that he could hurt her, right? She was an innocent in this situation. "Innocent?" Phoebe smirked. Sometimes one word can be a paradox in itself.  
  
When Phoebe got downstairs an hour later she was already late for work. The whole family gathered around the table enjoying pancakes, which Piper'd made. She grabbed a cup of coffee on the table and was searching for her keys.  
  
"How was your date with Jason?" Paige asked.  
  
"It went well."  
  
"So why were you home so early," Piper frowned.  
  
"Because," Phoebe sighed, "he had an early meeting today so we decided to cut it short."  
  
"Oh, honey, I am sorry."  
  
"Don't be." All morning Phoebe was deliberating whether she should tell her sisters about Cole and this girl. She did not want to discuss the situation but then the girl was an innocent. "I bumped into Cole yesterday. It was an accident, for what I can say." She answered the question, which was clearly on everybody's mind. "He was at the same restaurant as Jason took me and," she paused, "and he was not alone. He had a girl with him and they left about 10 minutes after we came in."  
  
"So," Paige commented dryly, "it did not take him long after your divorce, did it?"  
  
"Paige," Piper seared her younger sister with a glare. Phoebe felt that the knot, which formed in her stomach when she saw Cole with this girl in the restaurant, has just become tighter.  
  
"Well, it's good isn't it?" Paige continued, "if he does move on and leave Phoebe alone that would be the best thing he's done in a long time."  
  
"Paige," this time it was Leo, trying to restrain the blunt tongue of the youngest Halliwell. He noticed that Phoebe stiffened and wished for the two things he'd been wishing for for the past six months: first, that Cole Turner would have never entered their lives and second, that Paige would learn to think before she opened her mouth.  
  
"No, Paige is right. If he honestly moved on, I would be very happy." "God, how lame do I sound. "- Phoebe took a deep breath and said in a more normal voice. "It's just, I am worried about this girl. She is an innocent and with the powers Cole has now, I don't know what is on his mind. I am worried she'll get hurt." –Her family looked at her suspiciously.  
  
"Honey, is this the only reason, why you are so upset," Piper asked attentively.  
  
"What other reason would I have, Piper. Oh, I am sorry I forgot, I have divorced my husband just a week ago. Oh, no, I did not forget and you know why, because my family reminds me about it every 5 minutes."  
  
Uneasy silence followed her outburst. Then Piper spoke up, "We're sorry, Phoebe. We're just worried about you."  
  
"I know, you are worried but may be all of you would try to understand that I am trying really hard to get on with my life. And if I could I would not speak about Cole ever again in my life. But our destiny is to protect the innocents and Cole is a threat to them. And if this means talking about Cole then I will talk about him because protecting the innocents is the most important thing of my life, to which I have sacrificed my sister, my marriage and my child. And now I am going to work and you, Leo," she looked at him, "go and check with the Elders if they heard anything about Cole." She snapped the keys from the hook and left.  
  
The kitchen fell into silence. Then Paige spoke up, "I have a bad feeling about it all."  
  
"So am I," echoed Piper.  
  
"She is not over him, not at all."  
  
At this Leo interrupted, "Look, guys, there is a truth in what she said. Cole is dangerous and we should do something about it."  
  
"Do what, Leo? We can't kill him - we tried, it did not work. We can't stop him dating-he's a free man."  
  
"We can keep an eye on him," - piped Paige.  
  
"What? Spy on him? And how do you propose to do that?"  
  
"We can look for a spell, which will make us invisible and another one to tie our scrying crystal that it will always locate Cole and Leo or me can orb there on on/off basis and check up on what he's up to."  
  
"For this we don't need a crystal, Cole is always either in his penthouse or at Carter, Jackman and Kline."  
  
"Yes, but yesterday he was not there. He was in the restaurant."  
  
"You can't orb into the restaurant."  
  
"Yes, but you can orb outside and then walk in. I think it is something to think about. I am going to check the BOS if there is anything useful."  
  
"Fine," agreed Piper. "But what shall we do with Phoebe?"  
  
Leo shrugged his shoulders, "I don't think there is much we can do. She has to do it herself. We just have to be there for her and hope that time will cure her wounds."  
  
********************  
  
Cole picked Nicole up at her hotel half an hour before the funeral. They got stuck in traffic and made it just in time. The ceremony took place in the chapel of the XXX cemetery. The priest stood at the entrance of the church, next to him Nicole recognised Eric Sally, who allowed himself a small smile to greet them. He said something to the priest, who looked at newcomers with calm and sober eyes. "Miss Berg, Mr Turner, I am farther Cedric. Please come in. The ceremony is about to start. Please proceed to the front, relatives sit on the front bench."  
  
"Thank you," Nicole nodded and entered the church. It was full with people. She could feel everybody's eyes on her. She heard father Cedric behind her. "Mr. Turner, I hope you'll accompany Miss Berg."  
  
"Sure," -Cole followed her steps and sat down next to her. Nicole still could feel the eyes of the whole church on her but now it seemed less disturbing. The presence of Cole next to her made it more bearable. She felt uneasy. She did not know her uncle. She had vague memories of him from her early childhood more like feelings of warmth and strength that surrounded him. During the trying years following her father's death these memories were sometimes the only things, which helped her not to give up. She used to dream about him coming and saving her and sometimes she felt as if he was there telling her that things will get better. Nicole dreamt about her uncle like teenage girls usually dream about a knight in shining armour. And for Nicole he was her Knight.  
  
When she got to University she spent 2 months trying to find his address and in the end she managed. She wrote to him so many times, begging him to come to England, telling him that she wanted to get to know him. He never answered. And Nicole spent an anxious 6 months waiting for his reply: hoping, wishing and cursing. Then she made a last attempt and phoned him. She left a message on the answering machine and was again waiting. He never called back and next time she called the automatic voice told her that the number did not exist. It was a clear sign that her uncle wanted nothing to do with her. Nicole cried for two days, got absolutely drunk and then decided to get on with her life. She told herself that she would not waste her life on somebody who did not care about her. She'd forbidden herself to dream about her uncle and vowed never to offer her love again. William Schwarzlight did not exist for her anymore. She managed to stick to her decision. She was good in managing things. When she heard the news about his death 5 days ago, she felt strange. Everything seemed so unreal so many things were happening, so she just went with the flow. Now when she sat in the church listening to the ceremony the truth hit her. Her uncle died, she would never be able to meet him, talk to him, ask him all those question. The resentment of the last 10 years disappeared and her true feelings surfaced when she realized the depth of her loss. She was attending the funeral of the only person who was dear to her.  
  
Next to her Cole was musing about how normal this ceremony seemed. It was reserved and traditional, there were no speeches. A couple of times he shot a quick glance at Nicole, she was very pale and her face was a little strained but in general she was holding well. To tell the truth Cole was unsure about her. She seemed to be attached to her Uncle but at the same time she did not know him. When the ceremony was finished she stood firmly next to farther Cedric and accepted condolences from the mourners. After everyone else except them left father Cedric turned to Nicole and Cole. "According to Mr Schwarzlight's wishes nobody except the family members is going to be allowed into the mausoleum. If you would like to follow me I'll show you. And you too Mr. Turner."  
  
Cole looked at him surprise. "I am not a family member."  
  
"Well," father Cedric smiled but his eyes bored into Cole like two swirls, "you almost are." He swept past them and marched out of the church. Nicole and Cole had to hurry up to catch up with him. Cole expected a questioning comment but Nicole kept quiet and just followed the priest.  
  
The mausoleum was on the other side of the lawn. It reminded Cole of his family mausoleum, but this one was much bigger. It was quite dark inside in spite of hundreds of candles lighting the building. When his eyes adjusted to the relative darkness he could see 13 parlours along one wall of the mausoleum. In the middle there was a twin tomb. It seemed that the coffin was already place in the tomb. The priest took a piece of paper out of his robes and said. "It's a family tradition to read a poem, chosen by the late family member." He turned to Nicole. "You might remember it from your father's funeral."  
  
"Yes," Nicole was very pale and her voice shattered a bit. She took a deep breath and continued in more steady voice. "Yes, I remember. But I don't remember the words. I've never seen a copy."  
  
"Well, your uncle picked this one. There are three parts, one for each of us. If it's all right with you I will start, Mr Turner will go second and, you, Nicole will finish."  
  
Father Cedric took a deep breath and started to read. It was a beautiful poem, talking about coming back to the roots and joining the others, who'd been before. It was Cole's turn to read when he started to have a strange feeling that it reminded him about something he heard before. It was Nicole's turn, her voice was quiet and sounded even more husky than usual and then it dawned on Cole. It was a power-unbinding spell. A very strange one and complicated but it was an unbinding spell. He remembered it from the time when the Charmed ones used it on Paige. Though the spell of the Charmed ones was much shorter and easier, the essence was the same. Cole wanted to say something but then he caught the eyes of the priest. The latter almost invisibly shook his head and Cole stayed quiet. Suddenly Nicole gasped and stumbled back. In order not to fall she touched the left tomb but immediately pulled away with an even louder cry. Cole rushed to her and before he could catch her, his left shoulder touched the late Lugel's tomb. Cole felt how a stream of wind rushed through his body and a strong pain made him double in half. The next moment the feeling disappeared and Cole managed to catch Nicole just before she hit the floor. "Nicole, are you OK?"  
  
Nicole could feel Cole's hand around her waist; she opened her eyes and saw a worried look on his face. "I... I am fine." Her voice reminded more of a whisper. He helped her to her feet. "It must be a muscle cramp from stress."  
  
Cole did not say anything. But he perfectly well knew what happened. Nicole's powers got unbound. He looked at the priest but the latter's expression was unreadable.  
  
"You should get some fresh air, Nicole. Anyway, the ceremony is now over. It's time for all of us to turn to our other duties. I have to return to my congregation and you, I believe, have a path to follow." Cole could feel the priest's eyes focused on him. "Good day." Father Cedric turned around and led them out of the mausoleum.  
  
After leaving the cemetery Cole and Nicole headed straight to the offices of Sly&Sally. Both were very quiet. Cole was trying to come up with a plan how to explain everything to Nicole. She was deep in her own private thoughts. She felt strange, as if something inside her became awake. Nicole had a slight feeling of uneasiness and thought that it was caused by the stress of the last week and tiredness. Since arriving to the States Nicole did not have a single restful night of sleep. She constantly dreamt about fire, hell, angels: people she never met and places she's never seen. When they arrived to the offices they were immediately lead to the office of Eric Sally. He greeted them very seriously and proceeded straight away. "I am really glad that both of you could attend the funeral. Now as the first condition of Mr. Schwarzlight's will has been fulfilled we can proceed with the rest. Mr. Schwarzlight named two people as his heirs: his niece Nicole Berg and his friend Cole Turner. For the last 25 years William Schwarzlight was a guardian of his brother's fortune, which was trusted to him after the latter's demise. Both brothers were very wealthy. They were owners of the BalFor Holdings each holding 7.6% of shares. This percentage is equivalent to approximately 20 billion. All the shareholders are also board members of the company. The shares of the holdings company cannot be sold; they can only be transferred to the next board member. When a new board member joins the company he immediately received a personal wealth of 500 million dollars, which increases with each year spent on the board. According to my client's will Nicole will inherit the share formerly belonging to her father. You, Mr. Turner will inherit the share belonging to Mr. Schwarzlight himself. In order to receive the inheritance you both have to start working full time for BalFor Holdings or one of their subsidiaries and become board members. You are required to leave your current jobs and reside within the USA. Mr. Schwarzlight had his own personal wealth, mostly in real estate, estimated at 20 million dollars: these include houses in San Francisco, Cote d'Azure, penthouses in London, Paris, Sydney and Vancouver; and a villa in Sicily. All of those will be passed to you, Nicole. You Mr. Turner will inherit the villa in Carmel. I believe that in the past it belonged to your father's family?!"  
  
Both Cole and Nicole had been seating with their mouths open from the moment they heard the sum of 20 billion dollars so the former only managed a confused nod. This was beyond anything he could imagine in his wild dreams or nightmares. Cole was not sure which this one was going to be. Last night after dropping off Nicole he spent hours trying to find out why he was mentioned in the late Lugel's will. It was obvious to him that William Schwarzlight was trying to tie him in. But why? Cole gave him a word and was not planning to get back on it firstly because it was not his style and secondly because he was not suicidal. Nobody in their right mind would break a word given to a Lugel, even if said Lugel was dead. If William Schwarzlight left him just money Cole would not be very concerned. In all his life Cole never had financial problems. It came with being a demon and a lawyer. Of course half a billion dollars or personal wealth still meant something to him. Much more worrying were the shares in BalFor Holdings and the demand to start working for it. Cole searched his memory but could not remember ever hearing about this company either in the demonic world or in the mortal one. Experience taught Cole to be wary of things he could not understand. But what made Cole even more nervous was the villa in Carmel. It was a summer home belonging to his father's family. For some reason from all his childhood Cole remembered this villa the best. While working for the brotherhood undercover in one of his Upperworld missions he visited it. The villa was occupied. Cole could hear the children screaming and shouting playing some kind of game. He stood there for a couple of minutes and then left. At a time he told himself that he did not like the place anymore but now he could admit that it was painful to be their and it disturbed something in his human side that upper level demon Belthazor could not afford. When he was with Phoebe he thought about buying the place for him and Phoebe but then realized that Phoebe would never want to live there. There was no point owning the place if he was never going to be there. The fact that old Lugel gave him this place meant that he knew about Cole's past, that he took a trouble to check every little detail. And that made half demon apprehensive. He heard enough about Lugels to know that they did not waste time on unimportant things. The voice of Eric Sally snapped Cole out of his thoughts.  
  
"Any questions so far?"  
  
"Just one," Cole muttered silently, "what the hell is all this about. But then I doubt you have the answer." Cole shot a look at Nicole, and immediately wished he did not. Two emerald eyes were as hard as rock and regarded with a mixture of anger and derision.  
  
"Yes," she said turning to Eric Sally, "I have one. When did my uncle write this will?"  
  
If the lawyer was surprised by this question he did not show it. "Mr Schwarzlight had a will for the last 20 years. He did introduce some changes about a month ago but I am afraid I am not at liberty to tell you which ones."  
  
Cole knew perfectly well which changes were introduced just a month ago, but he was not about to voice his thoughts. He could feel Nicole staring at him and in spite of her calm exterior he was convinced that she was fuming inside so it was best not to push her further. He did not fancy having a young Lugel loosing her control especially since her powers were just unbound.  
  
"Any more questions?" Eric asked. Cole just shook his head and Nicole made a gesture offering the lawyer to continue. "Well," the partner returned his gaze to his paperwork, "this is basically all main points of the will. I only have to inform you that you have 48 hours to accept the conditions."  
  
"48 hours?" Nicole was genuinely surprised. "Isn't it a little to short for such a decision?"  
  
"It's a condition of the will," Eric Sally replied softly, "I am afraid that you will have to comply with this." Cole knew very well why this deadline was set. During the first 48 hours Nicole's powers could be bound again. And Lugels did not want to risk having somebody so powerful walking around if she was not going to accept her destiny with them. The young woman just shook her head and did not say anything. Eric Sally continued, "While you are deciding I am authorised to give Nicole keys to your uncle's house. You are very welcome to stay there. I also believe that your uncle has left you few items in the house, which as he put it would help you to make the right decision." He handed Nicole a set of keys. "If you don't have any other questions, then I am sure you would like to see the house. I'll be looking forward to hearing your decision and very much hope that you are going to make the right one."  
  
Cole and Nicole got up and left. All the way down in the lift Cole was aware of the young woman staring at him but she did not say anything since the building was very busy. But the moment they got into the car and Cole drove off, Nicole turned to him and asked in sarcastic tone. "Okay, Mr Turner, spill it out, who are you? Uncle Will's illegitimate son or long lost brother of mine?"  
  
This was so far from the truth that Cole could not help but laugh.  
  
"Do you think it's funny?" Nicole glared at him, "what am I supposed to think? You lied to me! You told me that you just met my uncle less than 2 moths ago. People don't leave twenty billion dollars to somebody they hardly know."  
  
"I did not lie to you," Cole retorted, "it's the absolute truth that I met you uncle one and a half months ago and I am not his or your relative. I was as surprised as you to find out about this inheritance."  
  
"I don't believe you," she shot. "If you are not a relative then why did you inherit all this? We got basically equal shares. I am not even sure why I got all of this, but you?"  
  
Cole paused for a minute. He did not know how to explain Nicole the whole thing but he was absolutely convinced that a car driving at the speed of 70 miles an hour was not the right place for a long story. So he tried to say as little as possible. "I think your uncle had his own reasons. May be he wanted to tie me in this BalFor Holdings."  
  
"Oh, really? Come on Cole, you promised that a lot of things were going to become clearer after the announcement of the will. If anything they got even more confusing. Why all these restrictions? How the hell are we expected to take a decision to change our lives in 2 days?! Why do we have to start working for that corporation? I am not an executive and neither are you. We are too young and inexperienced to seat on the board of the multi billion dollar company. And don't pretend that you have no idea what's going on! Because you do and I know it. Tell me the truth; I think I deserve to know."  
  
Cole hesitated for a moment, then he sighed and gave up. "Look, what I told you is the truth. I did meet your uncle less then 2 months ago. And I did not know that I would be even mentioned in his will till yesterday. And of course I did not expect to inherit all this."  
  
"Yeah, yeah," Nicole interrupted, "I heard all of that before and you have no idea why you got it."  
  
"I did not say that. I don't know it for sure but I have some ideas." Cole paused and then spoke up slowly trying to find the right words. "Your uncle was part of a very influential and powerful clan. This clan is in charge of protecting a group of people, who have very unusual abilities from the rest of the population. And I am one of this group and so are you but you don't know about it. He wanted me to help you to adjust to the changes in your life. He might have other plans as well but I don't know about them. All I promised was to help you, protect you and train you." Nicole looked at him as if he was mad. Cole sighed and continued. "I know that it sounds really strange but it's the truth. I don't want to go into the details now because I am hoping that your uncle left something in his house, which could help me to explain things and you to understand them. And all I am asking of you is a bit more patience and I promise I will explain everything when we get to your uncles house.  
  
Nicole looked at him suspiciously, then sighed and turned her head away. "This is just unbelievable," she uttered, "absolutely unbelievable," she made an annoyed gesture with her hand and suddenly Cole saw a massive energy ball flying from her palm and straight into the engine. Acting by the instinct Cole let the stirring will go, grabbed Nicole's hand and blurred into the penthouse. They materialized in his living room. Cole quickly checked if Nicole was unharmed. He was not sure if she was invincible yet. But she seemed to be physically fine. She looked at Cole, her eyes filled with fear and hoarsely asked, "What was it?" her voice was mere a whisper. She looked at her palm with horror, "How did I do that?"  
  
"You conjured an energy ball," he answered softly. "This is one of your powers and mine." He opened his palm and Nicole saw a small glowing sphere on it. She shrieked and backed away. Cole closed his palm and the sphere disappeared. "Look," he continued "when I talked about the group of people with unusual abilities, I meant magic people. A bit like Harry Potter. But Harry Potter books talk only about one type of magic, which is wizardian, it is the weakest type. Everything, which you thought were fairy tails does exist: witches, demons, vampires, warlocks. Your uncle belonged to Lugels. They stand above good and evil and their task is to protect the magic world from the non-magic people and preserve the balance between good and evil. You are half Lugel. You have enormous powers: energy balls are just a tiny part."  
  
"And you?" she asked, "you are a Lugel as well?"  
  
"No," he shook his head, "I am a half demon. My farther was mortal, like your mother, and my mother was a demon. I have her powers."  
  
Nicole looked at him with disbelief and then asked, "How did we get here?"  
  
He smiled, "Oh, that was easy. I blurred."  
  
"Blurred? What that?"  
  
"It's like instantaneous moving in space and in dimensions."  
  
Nicole's face was worthy of a picture, there was such mixture of feelings written on it. She shook her head and looked at Cole, "You're mad. This is mad. Blurring? Energy balls? You'll say I can move things in space as well?!"  
  
Cole smiled. "Of course you can, it's called telekinesis."  
  
Nicole laughed. "Of course, telekinesis. How simple. I just wave my hand and things will fly into the walls. Like this." Nicole swayed her hand into Cole's direction and he was flung into the wall together with the bottle of whisky standing on the table behind him. Cole hit the wall and slid on the coach. The bottle collided with the painting on the wall and the glass shuttered into a million of pieces spraying Cole with a shower of little daggers. "Oh, God," Nicole gasped and ran to him, "I am so sorry. Are you Okay? Did I hurt you? Cole, please, say something."  
  
Cole opened his eyes and smiled at her, "You have a hell of a power," his voice sounded a bit rough. "I don't envy the poor sole, who will be on the receiving end of it. Can tell from my own experience," he smiled and casually waved his hand at the splinters of glass around him.  
  
Nicole looked with awe as the bottle and the painting resumed their previous positions as if they never came in touch with each other. She looked back at Cole and her hand reached the back of his head. "You don't even have a bump."  
  
"I don't get bumps," he pulled away from her hand. "It's another type of powers." At this moment Cole's mobile rang and he pulled it out of his pocket. "Cole Turner."  
  
"Good evening, Mr Turner," said low female voice with distinct French accent. "Just want to let you know that a visitor just arrived on your balcony." Cole jerked his head to the balcony but it was empty.  
  
"I think you are mistaken." He answered coldly.  
  
"I suggest you use your vision better, Mr Turner, and be careful. Miss Mathews is not stupid and can be very noisy. Good evening," she disconnected.  
  
"Paige,- Cole swore silently,- that's not good" He needed to check if she was indeed there but he could not keep staring at the balcony. Paige could get suspicious.  
  
"Cole, are you Okay?" Nicole asked.  
  
An incredible thought came into his mind. This might just work if Nicole plays along. He turned to Nicole, put his hand on her waist and pulled her closer so she was facing him, her knees on both side of his thighs.  
  
"What are you doing?" Nicole gasped.  
  
"Shh," Cole whispered, "we are being watched. You have to help me."  
  
She looked at him suspiciously.  
  
"Put your hands around my neck," he ordered. When she obeyed, he pulled her even closer and whispered, "I need to focus on the balcony without Paige noticing. I know Paige, if we start making out she'll be too preoccupied to suspect anything."  
  
"Making out?" Nicole hissed.  
  
"You have better ideas?" Cole hissed back and without even waiting for her answer kissed her. Nicole was too shocked to push him away. Cole tried to keep the kiss light. There was no need to make the situation more complicated and embarrassing. But Nicole's lips were soft and warm. She breathed in and her lips parted slightly and Cole felt his tongue slipping into her mouth. A light moan escaped her mouth and the same second both of them pulled apart. Nicole went red. Cole moved his eyes towards the balcony and found himself staring at Paige. Her nose was plastered to the window. Cole mentally cursed. The suspicions of the Halliwells have been getting really annoying. He quickly turned his gaze away and found himself staring into Nicole's lips. This made Cole curse again.  
  
"Is she there?" he heard her whisper. She finally managed to compose herself enough to be able to talk. She will leave "kicking herself" for later when she was on her own and without Cole to witness it.  
  
"Yes, she is," he muttered.  
  
"So, what are we going to do?"  
  
"We are going to carry on what we started," said Cole. Nicole glared at him, and Cole honestly felt that if looks could kill his invincibility would not save him right now. Anger flared in him and he curtly remarked, "you don't have to worry I don't bite."  
  
Nicole gave him a filthy look. Then she bent down, pulled his tie and his jacket off and opened his shirt tearing off the buttons. Cole was so astonished by her actions that he just set there sprawled on the coach. A pain from a sharp pinch made him snap out of his stupor. "Come on, honey," he heard a sarcastic whisper in his ear. "Our visitor will think you are not enjoying yourself?!"  
  
At this moment Cole had to fight a strong urge to blow Paige of the balcony and make her bitchy soul burn in hell forever. He had enough of making an exhibition of himself. He was half naked in his own living room with a beautiful woman on his lap and all of it was because his ex in-laws did not have a life and were determined to deprive him of one. He could feel Nicole's soft skin through the thin material of her blouse, the warmth of her slender legs next to his sigh and her warm fingers on his chest. For God's sake evil or not, he was just a man and his body started to react to the situation. He pushed Nicole on her back, quickly picked her up and marched to the bedroom. He sat her down on the bed and blurred out. As he predicted Paige was gone and Cole swearing under his breath blurred back. 


	5. Chapter 6

Thanks so much for the reviews. It really means a lot to me. So keep them coming. As an answer to one of the questions, things will get really complicated and there will be more Charmed Ones in the next couple of chapters.  
  
Chapter 6.  
  
Paige orbed back to Halliwells manor wearing an expression of amused disgust.  
  
"So how did your little intelligence mission go?" Piper asked curiously, "did Cole notice you?"  
  
Paige scowled. "I doubt that he would have noticed me if I orbed straight in front of him?"  
  
"Oh?" Piper gave her little sister a questioning look.  
  
"He was too busy making out with some blond," Paige blurted out. "They were right at it in the living room."  
  
"With the blond?" Piper frowned, "do you think it's the same girl Phoebe saw him with?"  
  
"Probably," Paige shrugged.  
  
"So did you watch?" the oldest charmed one stared at Paige daring her to lie.  
  
The young witch squirmed uncomfortably. "Well, I did watch for a bit. But it's not what you think," she exclaimed, seeing Piper's mocking expression. "Cole got a phone call just when I orbed in and he immediately looked straight at the balcony as if he was checking whether it was empty. Then he hung up and jerked this girl to his lap. Call me paranoid, but I had a feeling as if he was told that I was on the balcony, so I stayed for a while to see if he was just acting."  
  
"And?" Piper prodded.  
  
"Definitely not," Paige affirmed slightly blushing, "you should have seen them Piper, they were all over each other."  
  
"Who was all over each other?" Phoebe asked walking into the living room.  
  
"Cole and this blond," Paige blurted out, while Piper winced inwardly. Phoebe went pale and gave Paige a wild look. "Well, you wanted me to keep an eye on Cole," Paige continued understanding Phoebe's expression as a question. "So this afternoon I orbed to the balcony of his Penthouse under the invisibility spell. And I saw Cole and this blond girl making out in the living room. Then he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom and I left." Phoebe continued to stare at her younger sister and the later exclaimed, "well, you did not expect me to watch the whole show?!"  
  
"At least we know, that there is no demonic activity going on there," Piper tried to steer the conversation into a different direction.  
  
"And," Paige continued gleefully, "we know that my invisibility spell worked!!!"  
  
Phoebe did not say anything and Piper looked at her with concern. "Phoebe, honey, are you OK?"  
  
"Ahh," Phoebe looked up at her sisters, "yes, I am fine," she said quickly putting a fake smile on her face. "But I disagree with you Piper. We need to keep an eye on Cole. He is dangerous and we don't know what he could do to this girl."  
  
"I think we have a very good idea what he'd do to her," Paige's sultry smile made Phoebe want to smack her in the face.  
  
Piper gave her youngest sister another warning glare and turned to Phoebe. "Aren't you taking it a bit too far, Phoebes? I know that Cole is demonic and everything but I don't think that killing his one-night stands is his style."  
  
"May be not," Phoebe agreed, "but what if she finds out who he is, or if she damps him and he would want to get her back. You know how obsessive Cole can be and he can really hurt her."  
  
Piper was not convinced. "Cole is more careful about revealing his powers than any of us. Come on, he's been alive for more then a century and always had high profile jobs. If he was not able to maintain his disguise than I don't think he would be one of the top Source's assassins. Plus he has this power to manipulate other people minds. It's much easier than killing her."  
  
"Besides," Paige's face resumed a mocked expression, "I don't think many women will leave Cole." This time Paige received a deadly glare from both of her sisters. "What did I say?" she cried out, "It's true. He is a hot looking lawyer who drives a Porsche. If you don't know who he really is why would you leave him?"  
  
"Paige," Piper cried with indignation.  
  
"That's why he is dangerous," Phoebe stated, "and exactly why we need to keep an eye on him."  
  
****************  
  
Nicole felt horrible. She was so embarrassed that she wanted to crawl into the nearest hole and die. Her behaviour had been obscene. She literally tore his clothes off. Why-why-why? Why did she do it? Yes, she was angry, yes, she was embarrassed. But that's not a reason to make a complete fool of herself. She dreaded meeting Cole again. She could vividly imagine the mocked expression on his face when one brow went up and the corner of his mouth went down. Everybody knows that the attack is best defence so when Cole blurred in he was met by a cold stare. "What the hell was that?" she yelled.  
  
Half demon was a little taken aback. "What the hell was what?"  
  
"All of this? Who was this woman on your balcony and why did you invent that whole show?"  
  
Cole's eyes became icy. "Which show are you referring to?" he smiled wryly. "The one where you tore my clothes off?"  
  
Her face flashed red and she said caustically. "I am sorry I damaged your possessions. I am sure you can fix it with one of your hand waves. But next time you want to make out with a woman I suggest that you come up with a better excuse than being spied on."  
  
She turned around and headed to the living room. She did not manage to reach the door. Cole was in front of her in a flash. His eyes were steely blue and his gaze was so full of contempt that Nicole stammered back. "You think I was lying? That I made all this up just to get you into bed?"  
  
"What else am I supposed to think?" she cried.  
  
"I don't know. How about that I was trying to protect you? The Halliwells can be really nosy. If they suspect you are involved in magic they will not let you do one step without them being around or may even vanquish you. And since you can't even control your powers and have no idea what's going on around you I thought it would be good for you to have some peace and some space without them breathing down your neck."  
  
"Well, it's not my fault that I don't know what's going on around me. I have been asking you this for the past 2 days. I have no idea who are your Halliwells and highly doubt that they were spying on me."  
  
They glared at each other. Nicole took a deep breath and said more quietly. "I don't think you were lying, Cole. It's just a bit overwhelming and I don't understand why anybody would spy on you and how would they even get to the balcony."  
  
Cole sighed and ran his hand through his hair. His anger had subsided and now he just felt tired. "This was Paige," he said quietly, "she is one of the three Halliwells sisters, who are the most powerful witches ever called the Charmed Ones. My ex wife whom we met the other day in the restaurant is one of them. Witches fight evil and Phoebe and her sisters are convinced that I am evil. I can only guess but probably when Phoebe saw us in the restaurant she decided that I was up to no good. So Paige used an invisibility spell and she orbed on the balcony."  
  
"Orbed?" Nicole, who was listening with acute attention, interrupted him.  
  
"Yeah," he shook his head, "it's like blurring, moving almost instantly in space but it works differently. It's a whitelighters power." He saw her blank expression and explained. "Whitelighters are a type of angels, which guide good witches. If she found out that we were involved in something magical, they would assume you're evil and will not give you a light of day. Now they will just think that we are lovers and hopefully will leave you alone."  
  
Nicole felt a sting of embarrassment. "And you could not just treat me as a friend?" she muttered more to herself.  
  
But Cole's hearing was too good to miss it. His anger flared again and he sharply turned on his hills to face her. "No, I could not. I don't have many friends and most importantly the Halliwells will never believe I can have one being the demonic bastard I am. So it was either this or incinerating Paige into the oblivion. Would you prefer the last option?"  
  
Nicole could see that he was hurt though his face looked more angry than anything else. In a normal situation she would have tried to respond more reasonably but the emotions of the last days had taken the best of her and she let her frustration spill out. "Don't yell at me. I don't know why your ex-wife and her sisters think that you are an evil bastard but it surely is not my fault. And I did not ask to be in the middle of your "loving" relationships."  
  
"No, you did not. But I also, believe it or not, did not volunteer for the job of your mentor and bodyguard. God knows, why your all mighty uncle could not find somebody else to do it? And I did not even get the explanation why the hell he never even bothered to tell you anything about your heritage and why he could not be around to teach you himself."  
  
The moment Cole finished he immediately regretted his outburst. Nicole's face went red. "I am sorry I have intruded on you. Apologies for any inconvenience." She abruptly turned around and headed to the door once again.  
  
Cole felt horrible. "Look, I did not mean it like that," he muttered.  
  
"Of course you did," Nicole turned around and gave him a cold smile. "From the moment I met you I felt that you did not know what to do with me. You have enough to worry about in your life without having extra troubles with me."  
  
"I do not consider you as a trouble," Cole said softly. "I admit I was not well prepared to meet you. And part of it was my fault; I did not give much thought to what your uncle told me. I was," he paused uneasily, "too much preoccupied with other things. But I always fully intended to help you. And I will if you let me. However, I know almost nothing about his reasons and the grounds behind the will. I think your uncle did not have time to explain it to me or to be more precise he ran out of time."  
  
Nicole interrupted him. "Uncle Will ran out of time? What do you mean?"  
  
"Well," his expression became reflective, "I don't really know. I met your Uncle in the Wasteland, which is like the gates to Hell. I was stuck there after my ex wife and her sisters vanquished me. Schwarzlight started talking about the mission Lugel's have on Earth of protecting the magic and keeping the balance between good and evil. And then," he paused trying to remember his conversation with William Schwarzlight, "something happened. He said that he had even less time than he thought and could not explain everything to me. He then offered me my powers back and to get me out of the Wasteland if I helped you to master your powers and protected you. He was very worried about you." He looked at Nicole, who was listening to him as if her life dependant on his words. "I had nothing to lose so I agreed. He took me by the hand and next moment I found myself here having my job back and my house back, and having the powers I never thought was possible to have. And forty days later I got the invitation to his funeral and the next day you showed up at my apartment."  
  
Nicole nodded. She felt lost and overwhelmed. Feelings, which became too familiar to her in the last few days. All of this was beyond normal life; it was unreal, unbelievable, insane. In one day her life was turned upside down. She used to think that she stood firmly on her feet and was able to take care of herself. And in one day everything has changed. She discovered completely different world, the world to which she belonged by birth and where she was like a newly born cub: blind and helpless. She looked at Cole who still wore the shirt she tore. He looked funny considering his serious face and office trousers. "I am sorry about your shirt," she gave him a small smile, "I'll buy you a new one."  
  
"Don't worry about it," Cole grinned back. He noticed her blush and decided to change the subject. "We should probably go and see your uncle's house. I sincerely hope that we'll find something interesting there." He looked down at his open shirt and caught Nicole's glance. She immediately averted her eyes. Cole cleared his throat, "I am just going to change."  
  
"Okay," she turned to the door.  
  
"You can use the main bathroom, first door to your right," he continued.  
  
When Nicole left Cole quickly pulled a navy blue shirt from the closet and was just buttoning it up when he heard a door bell ringing. A frown crossed his face and he made his way to the door. When he looked through the peephole he saw a policemen standing there with a short stocky man behind him. Damn. This was probably in connection to his car exploding. With everything that happened afterwards Cole completely forgot about this little accident. He opened the door and looked at the men in front of him. "Can I help you?"  
  
The policeman spoke first. "Are you Cole Turner the owner of the black Porsche, licence plate XXXXX."  
  
"Yes," Cole answered; he decided to hear what they had to say before he attempted to manipulated them to create a version of the events, which suited him. "Is there something wrong?"  
  
Before the policemen could answer the stocky man pushed his way from behind and cried out. "I am so sorry, Mr. Turner, it was not my fault. When you brought you car to our garage this morning, I organised it to be serviced immediately. To shorten the time you had to wait I asked one of our boys to start hovering the car, while one of our mechanics was adjusting the breaks. And the next thing I know this fool switched on the engine and took off."  
  
Cole had problems keeping a straight face. He knew perfectly well that he did not bring the car to the garage this morning and he also knew that he did not use his powers. The only explanation to this was that Lugels network has been keeping an eye on the situation and had already created a cover-up story. So Cole decided to play along, he put an outrage expression on his face and glared at the distressed garage owner. "So what happened to my car?" he asked trying to sound angry.  
  
The policemen took a step forward. "Would you mind if we continue this conversation inside?" he requested.  
  
Cole followed his visitors into the living room and saw Nicole sitting in one of the chairs. She looked surprised to see a police guy and then shot Cole a worried look. Cole slightly shook his head and turned to his visitors. "This is my friend Nicole Berg," he introduced. "And this is?" he looked at the police officer.  
  
"Office Brooks", the policemen announced. Nicole nodded. And the policeman turned back to Cole. "I am afraid, Mr Turner that your car has exploded on the XXX bridge. You probably have seen the explosion on TV."  
  
"No, I have not," Cole frowned, his expression becoming cold and arrogant the moment he saw too knowing looks on both man faces, which suggested that they knew perfectly well what activity have prevented Nicole and Cole from hearing the news broadcasted on every news station. "Would you mind telling me how this happened?"  
  
The garage owner immediately returned to his anxious state. "The boy did not know that the mechanic has been fixing the engine so when he reached the top speed it has exploded and..." he paused dramatically.  
  
The policemen continued. "The explosion was very powerful. He died instantly and the car has fallen into the bay. The current there is very strong so I doubt we will ever recover any traces of his body or of your car for that matter."  
  
Nicole had to bite her tongue in order not to gasp when she heard this lie. She shot a glance at Cole who looked very distant and sombre. The garage owner also noticed Cole's expression and exclaimed. "I am so sorry Mr Turner and please do not worry about any problems. We will arrange all the paperwork necessary and we'll deal with the investigation ourselves. And of course we will replace your car straight away. I even took a liberty to bring one down here. It is the same model as yours, brand-new and the same colour as the old one. We have just received it. I hope you would not mind using it and if you like it taking it as a replacement." He handed Cole the keys.  
  
Half demon allowed his expression to soften a bit and looked at the car dealer with less scrutiny. "So what do I have to do now?" Cole directed his question to the policemen.  
  
The late shrugged his shoulders. "Not much. We will open an investigation but I doubt that we would find much material evidence. The identity of the hijacker has been established. He seems not to have any family, comes from the orphanage. The reasons of the accident have been established so you will probably receive shortly an official letter, which you can show to your insurance company if you need. But considering that the replacement would be provided by the dealership," he pointed at the garage director, who energetically nodded, "then I doubt that we'll need to disturb you any more."  
  
With this words both man have nodded to Nicole and left the penthouse. When Cole returned after shutting the door behind them he saw young woman staring at him in disbelief. "How?" she uttered, "how did you do this?"  
  
Cole smiled and lifted his hands, palms up. "I did not."  
  
"You did not?" Nicole repeated incredulously, "then how did this happen or are you going to tell me that you did bring your car to the garage and the explosion 2 hours ago was just me having hallucinations?"  
  
Half demon shook his dead. "It was not me," he said, "but I think what we just heard was a cover-up created by the friends of your uncle. I am sure they have the ability to manipulate minds and conjure evidence. I have the same powers and I would probably do the same but I just did not have time. So they took care of it."  
  
"You can manipulate minds?" Nicole looked at him in disbelief mixed with wariness. "You can even manipulate my mind."  
  
Cole left exasperated sigh. "Yes, it's one of my powers and before you say anything else, no, I have not manipulated yours mind and nor do I intend to." She eyed him warily. "Look," he continued feeling a little frustrated, "I don't go around manipulating people's minds. It's unpredictable and dangerous. And if I have this power then you have it as well and when you learn how to use it and all the side issues, trust me you would much rather prefer not to."  
  
He sounded really sincere and Nicole believed half demon. She nodded and muttered quietly, "Sorry, it's just a little freaky."  
  
"I know," he answered. "Look, let's go to your uncle's house, the sooner we get all the information the sooner we can figure out what to do next and may be contact other Lugels."  
  
Nicole nodded. "How will we get there?"  
  
Cole shrugged, "We can either drive or I can blur you there."  
  
"I prefer blurring," Nicole piped. And when she saw Cole's smirk, she retorted, "it's for your own good, you know. Would be a shame to blow up your new car."  
  
"Of course," Cole drawled. And before Nicole had time to answer he took her hand and disappeared. They reappeared on the quiet lane in front of the massive mansion. Half demon was impressed. The house was very grand, it was on three floors and had a massive garden at the back. Electric gates opened to a curved driveway.  
  
"Why did not you blur us inside?" Nicole asked.  
  
"Because I can't," half demon simply replied, "the house must be protected against any magic entering it."  
  
"Oh," Nicole did not say anything. She pulled out a key and opened the door.  
  
The house was very grand. It was decorated with a great taste and expensive furniture. Cole and Nicole went around all rooms and did not find anything remotely interesting. They even went to the attic. Cole half expected to see an attic similar to the one at the Halliwell manor. But this one was anything but. This attic had massive windows and was full of most gorgeous plants. Cole even allowed himself a surprised whistle. But both him and Nicole were not in the mood to admire the beauties of the house. They returned to what looked like the office and decided to look around. After another 10 minutes they could not find anything interesting. Cole was studying the books for the hundreds time. Nicole was checking the wall behind the painting of a woman on the opposite wall. It was a portrait of the young girl, who was standing near the door with her hand on the handle and her head turned as if somebody just called after her. Cole heaved a frustrated sigh. He felt annoyed and tired. This was not going well and he could feel his stomach grumbling at him. He turned to Nicole. "We should order some pizzas, I am..." he suddenly stopped, staring at the young woman standing next to the painting with her head turned towards him almost as a life copy of the painting. "Oh, my..." Cole uttered staring at the painting in amazement.  
  
"What?" Nicole could see his astonished expression but had no idea what caused it.  
  
Cole swiftly moved towards her. "Put your hand on that painting," he said.  
  
Nicole frowned, "Why?"  
  
"Because I think I know where the hidden entrance is," he answered smiling. "See this door," half demon pointed on the painting, "Place you hand as if opening it."  
  
Nicole obeyed but nothing seems to happen. "I think you're mistaken," she commented dryly. Cole felt really confused. He could not be mistaken. He looked around the library and caught his breath. In the middle of the library where a minute ago was a massive table there was now a vortex.  
  
"Oh, my God," he heard Nicole's voice. "What's that?"  
  
"It's a vortex," Cole quickly strode towards it. "I cannot believe that your uncle used a vortex as an entrance."  
  
"Why not?" a young woman followed Cole to the edge of grey-blue swirls.  
  
"Vortexes need an enormous amount of energy. They usually serve as hidden entrances into different dimensions. Plus they are very difficult to control. It's more like powers of nature, you can use them but you can't control them."  
  
"Well, shall we go in it?" Nicole asked.  
  
"I don't see any other choice," the half demon nodded. He gave Nicole a pointed stare "Look, I'll go first to make sure that everything is OK. You wait here for me."  
  
"No," Nicole was certain that there was not chance she would stay behind and wait. "I am not staying here and waiting for you. What if something goes wrong and then I'll be stuck here alone."  
  
"If something goes wrong, then it will be better to be stuck here than there," Cole pointed out.  
  
"Not for me," Nicole shook her head and took Cole by the arm. "It's my uncle's house and I opened this bloody thing so I am going with you".  
  
Her eyes glimmered with such determination that Cole gave in. "Fine," he muttered. "But don't tell me I did not warn you." With these words he stepped towards the vortex and next moment him and Nicole were caught into the powerful stream of energy. They found themselves in the middle of the library, which looked like exact copy of the one they just left.  
  
"What the hell?" Nicole uttered. "We have not moved anywhere."  
  
Cole glanced around, "Oh, yes, we have. We are in a different plain. I can fill it." He scanned the titles of the books and his eyes grew wide. "This is the most extensive collection of the demonic books I have ever seen, and not only demonic." He approached one of the books. "This looks exactly like the Halliwell's Book of Shadows." He stretched his hand, "And I can touch it."  
  
While Cole was busy admiring the library Nicole was studying the paperwork, which was lying on the table. Her attention was attracted by two brown envelopes, with Cole's and her names on them. "Look at this," she said. "I think these are for us." Nicole picked up en envelop and opened it, Cole did the same. The envelopes looked empty but both Nicole and Cole notices grey mist, which quickly turned into the semitransparent figure of a man.  
  
"Schwarzlight?" half demon's voice was full of disbelief.  
  
"Just a memory of him, Cole" old Lugel smiled briefly then he turned his gaze to Nicole. "I am glad that I can see you, Nicole even if I am a mere memory. You are so beautiful and you look so much like my brother."  
  
Nicole could not believe her eyes and ears. It was not possible. But there he was, her uncle and he looked so much like she imagined him. She stretched her hand to him but it just went through the semi transparent form.  
  
"I am not here Nicole," Schwarzlight said softly. "I am a memory, which has been preserved and even this will disappear in about an hour. And we have a lot to talk about."  
  
Nicole shook her head, "Talk about what?" she said, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat.  
  
"About your destiny," he said sombrely. "You and Cole are the Chosen Two - destined to negotiate peace between the world of evil and the world of good, to save the magic world from total extinction and restore the balance of forces.  
  
"The Chosen Two?" Cole and Nicole exclaimed in one voice.  
  
"Yes," Lugel continued, "you were prophesized a long time ago. Lugels have worked for centuries trying to assemble a key to identify you. The task has been completed by your father Nicole. Since that day we were waiting for a sign. And now we finally have the Chosen Two and it is about time. Magic world desperately needs a break from the bloodshed and it would be your task to negotiate the peace and then maintain it."  
  
"A peace between the Underworld and Powers to be?" Cole repeated incredulously. "That's impossible"  
  
"Why do you think, it's impossible?" Lugel asked calmly.  
  
"Because you will need to convince both demons and witches to stop killing each other? It's their nature to fight each other!" Cole stated slightly exasperated.  
  
"Is it in the nature of witches to go after every demon and kill him?"  
  
"Well, no," Cole shook his head. "But they have to protect their innocents and themselves and this usually involves killing demons."  
  
"So it means that if there are no innocents attacked and their own safety is not at risk the witches will not have to go after the demons."  
  
Cole could not contain his sarcasm any more. "Ye, and the demon world would just agree not to kill any innocents and to leave witches alone!!! How easy!"  
  
"Not easy, but doable," Schwarzlight retorted. "Not all mortals are innocents. Remember Ed Miller. Was he the innocent?"  
  
Cole's face clouded. "If you ask the Charmed Ones, he was," half-demon's voice tingled with resentment.  
  
"Leave the Charmed Ones," Lugel waived his hand. "They are so stuck in their ways of dealing with Evil that they became evil themselves. And by the way that is the main problem of the witchery community. They need to adjust their standards. Not every mortal is an innocent. Mortals are capable of things not a single demon will do. There are many other witches, which have much more reasonable attitude towards the Good and Evil than the Halliwells. And they would be perfectly happy with some mortals going straight to hell literally."  
  
Cole's mouth twisted into a wry smile. "Okay, lets say that the witches will stop killing demons, how are you planning to stop demons killing witches and going after the real innocents."  
  
"Cole, what are demons after?" asked Lugel with a patient smile of an adult talking to the stubborn child.  
  
"Power and wealth," half demon answered.  
  
"Exactly." Lugel smiled triumphantly. "We have done a lot of studies about the correlations between the mortal and demonic realm. Which covers do demons prefer while on there Upperworld missions. And we found that best of all demons like to pause as businessman and lawyers. Two groups associated with wealth and power. The task at hand is to organise the Underworld and to channel its activities into the business world. Plus there are plenty of mortals, which happily will sell their souls and commit crimes. So there will be plenty of pray for demons."  
  
Cole shook his head. "I don't see it happening," he stated.  
  
"Then you better start now," Lugel snapped. He paused and continued in a calmer voice. "Let me paint you a picture. If everything continues the way it's going now then very soon, the population of demons will reduce so significantly that they would be desperate to survive and they'll attack the Elders and Whitelighters realm. Usually demons do not bother, since the realm is so well protected and most demons die in process of getting there. However, desperation makes the enemy reckless. The few demons who will reach the realm will easily kill all inhabitants. Without guidance from the Elders and especially healing powers of the whitelighters witches will be sitting ducks. Most of them will parish in a period of few months. That would be the end of magic. The misbalance of powers would be so great that most mortals will go mad. So how does that sound to you?" he glared at Cole.  
  
The later felt uncomfortable under the old mans stare. "I did not say that I want this to happen," he mumbled. "But what you are suggesting is almost impossible to achieve."  
  
William Schwarzlight's face softened. "I agree it's going to be difficult but not impossible. Especially for the Chosen Two."  
  
"Yes, about that," Nicole who kept silent decided that it was time to step into the discussion, "you two can argue all you want whether this peace deal is possible. But I just want to warn you, uncle Will, you keep talking about the Chosen Two and their task. I have no doubt that you identified Cole correctly. But not me! I don't know anything about magic. I can't even control my powers. Hell, I don't know what powers I have. I have to concentrate really hard even to understand what you two are talking about. And you expect me to play a crucial role in breaking your peace. If something is impossible it is to change the fact that I have no idea about magic and it will take me ages to learn all of it."  
  
Lugel looked at Nicole with soft smile. "Don't worry about learning Nicole. Cole will be able to help you with your powers. It won't be a problem."  
  
Cole shook his head and gave the older man uneasy look. "I don't want you to think that I am coming back on my word. I promised to teach Nicole and I will but I agree with her. In the short space of time we have she won't be able to learn all of it. To control the energy balls is easy enough, but what about fire and also all the spells and just general knowledge of magic. The Charmed ones have been witches for 5 years and they still know very little about the demonic world and general magic world."  
  
Schwarzlight listened to Cole and nodded in agreement. "I understand your concerns," he said and looked at both of them. "If you two have to learn everything the conventional way, it will take you years. And by the way not only Nicole has to learn." He shifted his gaze from Nicole to the half demon. "You Cole have a lot to learn as well. So far you learnt how to control just one part of your powers, but today you received another one, which are mainly what you consider to be witchery powers such as freezing, aerokinesis, premonitions and whitelighters powers: such as orbing." He paused enjoying the shocked expressions on the younger Lugels faces. "Yes, you are both Lugels," he continued answering the question which he read on Cole's face. "And before you start yelling at me, when I came to the Wasteland and made you that offer I had no idea you would become a Lugel. I fully intended to give you Belthazor's powers back. But there are powers beyond my control. I should tell you both that Lugels are not born. They receive their powers in different time in their lives. There are 13 Lugels at any time in the world, well except the last 25 years after Robert my brother and your father died. All Lugels are half-breds, having both evil and good sides to their heritage. Myself I was half demon/half whitelighter before I became a Lugel and your father was half demon/ half mortal. We were only half brothers. We had the same demonic father but different mothers."  
  
"So you mean that I am only quarter magical?" Nicole interrupted him.  
  
Lugel frowned and his expression became a little strained. "No, you are quarter demon/ quarter darklighter and half human." Nicole stared at him in disbelief and he continued. "Your mother is half darklighter. She got her powers bound when your father died. She never was into using them anyway. She got them from her mother, who left them when Katherine was very young. I think she was always embarrassed of her heritage."  
  
"So my mother knew about Lugels and magic?" Nicole interrupted him again.  
  
"Of course she knew." Schwarzlight confirmed. "My brother told her even before their marriage. He did not have to. Most Lugels have log term relationships when the other partner never found out about their real identity. It's not that difficult. But Robert really loved Katherine. He broke rules for her. After you were born he used his magic to put a protecting spell on her. Basically he passed his invincibility to her. He said he did not need it. And it's true. With the amount of powers Lugels have they are never in grave danger. You can detect the danger using your telepathy and premonition. You have fireballs, telekinesis and many more powers to protect yourself and you can always shimmer, blur or orb out of danger. You can put a force shield around yourself. And there are always self healing powers. But invincibility is given Lugels for a reason. Robert simply died in a plain crash. He was meeting there with a witch from another plain who passed him the last peace of the information we needed to identify the Chosen Two. The plain got into the crash and my brother managed to send the witch and the information to me but was too late to save himself. Katherine knew that he was a Lugel. Thank God, he did not tell her that I was a Lugel as well. But she pretty much suspected it anyway. After his death your mother used this knowledge against me. She threatened that she would tell everything to the Source, Elders and papers if I did not give up my attempts to see you. She did not want you to have powers or even finding out about your magic heritage. Katherine arranged for your powers to be bound. She knew I could not harm her. She also knew that she would die if she told the story. If a Lugel goes against his kind or attempts to harm our goal of protecting the magic world from exposure he or she will lose their powers instantly. Since Katherine was protected by Lugel's power she had the same threat. But I also knew that Katherine did not care. She would do it if I did not agree and I could not risk exposure. Also she was your mother and though I doubted you would be happy with her I could not just kill her or erase her memory. So I obeyed. I never made any contact with you."  
  
Nicole was listening to him with acute interest. Finally after all these years she was learning something about her family. "Well, you better had erased her memory," she said quietly. "It would be better for you and Lugels. Because now I am completely useless, I don't know anything about magic and even can't use my powers. Just as my mother wanted it to be." Her voice sounded bitter at the end.  
  
Schwarzlight shook his head. "No, Nicole, I knew that you were the Chosen One before Katherine took you away. And I also knew that you had to be kept innocent to be able to fulfil your destiny. If you stayed with me and knew who you were it would be almost impossible to achieve that. That's why when you contacted me I did not reply."  
  
Nicole's face paled but Cole already learnt that in her case it was a sign of anger. "I should have been kept innocent? Well, you were very successful in achieving that. I am one hell of an innocent, that's for sure. And what your decision cost me does not matter, does it?" she seared her uncle with a deadly glare. "Of course, not. How could I forget?! The GOAL is everything."  
  
Lugel smiled sadly. "Always and anywhere," he said, "that's our slogan."  
  
"But not mine," Nicole said sternly. "And I do not see any reason for me to go with the destiny you prepared for me. Well, except half a billion dollars. At the moment this looks to me more of a payment than inheritance."  
  
"Nicole," the older man lifted his hand, "I know you are angry and upset. But please do not act impulsively. Great powers come with great responsibility and tough choices. And it does not matter whether these powers are magical or not. BalFor Holdings is owned by Lugels but it does not only work for magic. We own many mortal corporations and are involved in different businesses. I wish I could change the past but I can't and I will have to admit that if I was in the same situation again I probably would have made the same choices. But you, you can change the future. And don't let your resentment against me or anybody else stop you from saving many lives. You'll regret it afterwards. And you will regret not taking a chance and experiencing what it means to be a Lugel."  
  
Nicole stayed silent for a minute then she said in a tired voice. "Look, whether I want to embrace my destiny or not does not matter. The fact is that I can't help you. I am absolutely useless. And as Cole said it would take years for me to learn. So I think you have a wrong person."  
  
Schwarzlight smiled, "you don't need years. There are methods to learn which are much faster than the ones you are used too. Lugels has been using them for centuries. We are not exactly trained for the job from our birth like demons or witches. And there are only 13 Lugels in the world so we can't have newcomers spending years learning things. So since the creation of the earth Lugels have been learning using telepathy. That's much faster than anything else. In 2 weeks you'll be perfectly ready for your task."  
  
Both young Lugels looked stunned and then Cole asked, "Do you mean that we'll have a 2 weeks session with one of the Lugels who'll be telepathically pouring knowledge into us."  
  
"Oh, no," the older man shook his head. "Most of things you'll learn from books. Other Lugels will just feel the blanks." Nicole's face expressed such scepticism that Schwarzlight decided that the small demonstration would be helpful. "OK," he said, "take a book from the shelf, any book." Nicole picked up a thin soft back which turned out to be "Darklighters and their powers". "Now," Lugel continued, "open it and start reading." The young woman gave him a stare. "Don't be scared," her uncle insisted.  
  
Nicole opened the book and started reading. "Darklighters are angels of evil. They are direct opposite of a whitelighters, who are angels of good." The next moment a flow of images started to go through Nicole's head: different people with crossbows and arrows; the tip of the arrow became enlarged and Nicole saw the long list of ingredients, the arrow flying into the chest of the whitelighter; the later screaming in agony and many-many more images, which started to change faster and faster. Suddenly everything stopped and Nicole read "Currently there are 10,000 dark lighters in the world." She found herself on the last page and closed the book. She saw Cole looking at her with wary eyes and a triumphant smile of her uncle's face.  
  
The later shot Cole an ironic look, "Would you mind asking Nicole a question about darklighters?"  
  
The half-demon tried to think about the suitable question. "How do darklighters kill?" He asked the first thing that came to his mind.  
  
Nicole shrugged her shoulders. "They usually use the crossbow with the arrows containing the special poison consisting of arsenic, devil's trill,..." she continued to name about 20 ingredients. "They can also kill with the athame but they prefer the crossbow." She stopped for a second and put her hand to her mouth. "How do I know all this?" She stared at her uncle and then at Cole.  
  
"You have learnt all the contents of this book. Telepathically. The book simply projected its contents into your brain." The old Lugel looked very pleased. "And the speed with which you did it shows that your abilities are very remarkable."  
  
Nicole stared at Cole with questioning look. He nodded in response. "It's true. You opened the book and there was a beam of light blasting in your forehead. It was over in mere seconds."  
  
William Schwarzlight glanced at the clock. His expression sobered. "My time is running out. But I told you everything I wanted. I really hope that you will not reject your destiny. If you decide to accept it then for the next two weeks you will stay here. This is another dimension. The Lugels plain. This house has everything in it and you'll be able to properly train here with nobody to disturb you. Trust me, you will need this peace and comfort because it's going to be exhausting. Learning telepathically is faster but it is very intense. Also you need to practice your assault skills. On this table you'll find all the instruction and lists of books you should learn. In two weeks you'll be ready to become the members of Lugel council and the board members of BalFor Holdings. You also will start working for the DLM investments. One of the most high profile investment firms in the world. Nicole will head the Division of Private Equity Investments and Cole will become the head of their Legal Department. This will place you at the top of the financial circles of the US and also give you enough flexibility to work on your task. It won't be easy but I honestly believe that you will make it."  
  
While he spoke Nicole could see as his semitransparent form was becoming even more eluded. The feeling of loss has hit her again.  
  
"Would I ever see you again?" she asked in a slightly chocked voice.  
  
He smiled back, "I am afraid not. Lugels don't become ghosts and cannot be summoned. I know how you feel Nicole, but please don't let the past hold you back. You have a chance to build a new life without our baggage and what an exiting life it will be. Use this chance." His figure became even more transparent and next second he was gone.  
  
Cole kept quiet knowing that it was important for Nicole to have these minutes with her uncle. Suddenly he heard a distinct voice in his head. "Please take care of her. She is vulnerable and she'll need your help. And God help you if you hurt her."  
  
"Aren't all relatives the same?!" Cole thought to himself. "God help me!" 


	6. Chapter 7

Thanks very much for the reviews. Here is a new chapter. Hope you'll like it. Let me know.  
  
Chapter 7  
  
When Cole finally got home it was past two in the morning. He was exhausted and felt as if his head was about to explode. This day seemed to last forever. All he wanted now was a hot shower and his bed; the shower could wait till tomorrow he decided. First he needed some sleep. His phone went, he sighed and picked up It might have been Nicole.  
  
"Cole?"  
  
The half demon groaned. "Phoebe?"  
  
"Yes," she answered. There was a silence on the other side. "I... You are home late."  
  
The temptation to hang up was strong but he decided against it. "What do you want Phoebe?"  
  
Phoebe just could not find the words. She didn't expect him to pick up, didn't consider it. She'd been dialling his number every hour since dinner. She told herself that she was just worried about the girl and wanted to make sure that he would not harm her. With every unanswered ring she felt the knot in her stomach get tighter. Were they spending the night together, already?! She did not expect him to pick up the phone now?! May be she should just hang up.  
  
"Phoebe," Cole called out again. "It's two in the morning and I would like to get some sleep. If you want to play the silence game can we do it tomorrow?  
  
The sarcasm in his voice made her spirit more determined. "I wanted to talk to you about this girl you are seeing."  
  
Cole mentally cursed and at the same time perked up, feeling more awake now. He should play it just right not to contradict Paige's report and at the same time not to let in that he knew about the Charmed ones little spy mission. "There is nothing to talk about, Phoebe," he replied sternly. "We are divorced. It's none of your business."  
  
"Oh, yes it is. I don't care if you date some demoness. But this girl is an innocent and she's not safe with you."  
  
The anger and resentment flared in Cole. And this was the woman who'd sworn to stand by his side till the death part them. At moments like this Cole found it difficult to believe that this was the same Phoebe for whom he betrayed the Source and who spared his life in the mausoleum all those months ago.  
  
"Cole?" his ex wife's voice interrupted his reverie. "Did you hear me?"  
  
"Yes, I did." His voice became icy. Phoebe knew this voice. She heard it before when Cole-the Source of All Evil spoke to his subordinates. "And I can just repeat what I said. Whom I date is none of your business..."  
  
He wanted to say something else but suddenly his mind was hit by a cry. "Cole, help me! I can't control them. Please. Cole..." It was Nicole's voice. The half-demon dropped the receiver and blurred out of the penthouse.  
  
"Cole?" Phoebe asked, "Are you still there?" When there was no answer she hung up. "He is up to something." Phoebe thought to herself. She just knew it. It was not in Cole's habits to hang up on her. She had an urge to go to his penthouse now but decided against it. She would go tomorrow. And warn this son-of-a-bitch one last time.  
  
When Cole blurred into Nicole's hotel room he was greeted by such a sight, that he did not know whether to worry or laugh. Everything in the room was floating two feet in the air, with the smaller items gliding near the ceiling. Nicole was sitting on the bed which itself was floating as well. She had her hands outstretched. Her face was slightly flashed with drops of sweat covering her forehead. She was obviously trying to concentrate really hard on controlling her powers.  
  
"Cole," she cried out. "Thank God. I was not sure that I would be able to reach you. And I can't get hold of my phone." She shot a quick glance to the phone hovering next to the lamp. "I don't know how this happened. I could not sleep and decided to read for a while and then I could not find my book and I was looking for it and the next thing I knew everything was flying everywhere. I only managed to prevent them from crashing into each other but I can't bring them down." Cole could hear a touch of panic creeping into her voice. The floating contents of the room soared up a few inches.  
  
Cole decided that it was time to act. He sat down on the bed. "Give me your hands," he instructed Nicole, "and breathe deep. Close your eyes and try to clear you mind from everything and repeat after me." He started chanting and Nicole repeated his words. She could feel her heart slowing down and became aware of Cole's hands and his conscious. She also could feel the link establishing between them. The powers, which she felt brewing in her since this morning has started to flow through her hands into Cole's and his strength and confidence were flowing into her. She could feel her body finally relax. She could feel the bed move slowly downwards. A series of quiet thumps made her eyes fly open. She saw half demon smiling. "I think everything is back to normal," he remarked.  
  
Nicole looked around the hotel room and sighed with relief. Indeed everything was back to normal. "Thanks," she smiled at Cole gratefully. "I would not have managed without your help."  
  
He grinned back. "No problem."  
  
"Did I wake you up?" she asked looking slightly guilty.  
  
"No," Cole scowled remembering his conversation with Phoebe. "I hadn't gone to bed yet." He cast a glance to the clock. 3.30 am. "Look," he continued. "I don't think you should stay in the hotel this night. Your powers are very strong and you being emotional and tired makes it even more difficult to control them. I have a spare bedroom in the Penthouse. You can stay there for a day or two and then move into you uncle's mansion. At least you won't have to worry about explaining broken TV sets and scorch marks on the ceiling."  
  
Nicole had to bit the impulsive cry "No", which almost escaped her mouth. Cole Turner's apartment was the last place she wanted to be at the moment. It was bad enough already. She had spent a whole day in his presence, not mentioning the little accident on the sofa in his living room. The way her body responded to him was enough for the alarm bells to go off. And it looked like in the next weeks they would be spending a lot of time together. Sleeping in the next room was way to close. As far as the young woman was concerned it would be better if there was at least an ocean between her and Cole or preferably two. But Cole was right. No matter how much she wanted to keep a safe distant from half demon she could not afford her powers manifesting themselves in front of the hotel staff. "It will be only for a couple of days," she told herself. And after that she would severely limit the time she spent with Cole. Being with him was dangerous, dangerous for her peace of mind and heart. She could feel herself being drawn to him and that was the last thing she needed. If she fell for him she would just end up hurt like with Chris and Nicole was determined that it would never happen again. But for now she would have to accept his offer. It was a better option than burning somebody into oblivion. She nodded in agreement, "Yes, you're right. I'll just pick up some stuff."  
  
While the young woman was collecting her belongings into a small bag, the half demon was musing over the panicked expression, which he saw on Nicole's face when he offered her to stay with him. It surprised him greatly. He thought that she would be grateful to be somewhere where her powers could be kept under the control. Maybe she just did not like him. But Cole could bet that that wasn't true. He spent a whole day with Nicole and could not pick up on any hostility from her. And during the kiss they shared he could have sworn that she responded to his touch. The sight of young woman emerging from the bathroom clad in jeans and a t-shirt interrupted his thoughts.  
  
"I am ready," she declared after hanging the "do not disturb sign" on the door handle. Cole nodded grabbed her hand and blurred out of sight.  
  
***********************  
  
Paige was enjoying a lazy late breakfast/early lunch. Phoebe was at work, Piper had gone to P3 for the inventory and Leo was with the Elders. That gave Paige a rare moment of peace and quiet and she was going to enjoy it. She was sitting in the kitchen reading a Homes & Interiors magazine and finishing the second of Piper's blueberry muffins, which were great.  
  
Her cell phone went and Paige reluctantly pulled it toward her ear.  
  
"Hello?" she said.  
  
"Paige?" Phoebe's voice was muffled by the sound of traffic.  
  
"Hi, Phoebes," Paige answered gaily. "What's up? Where are you?"  
  
"I am on my way home," the middle Halliwell said.  
  
"Home?!" Paige enquired. "Isn't it a bit early to be skiving off from work? It's not even twelve yet."  
  
"I know what time it is, Paige." Her sister sounded slightly annoyed. "But we have to do something."  
  
"Is something wrong?" the younger witch became immediately alert.  
  
"You can say that," Phoebe grumbled. "I have been to Carter, Jackman and Kline and found out that Cole called in sick."  
  
"Phoebe," Paige heaved a sigh.  
  
"I know what you're thinking, Paige. But I also know that Cole is up to something. I spoke to him last night and he just hung up on me. He's never hung up on me before. And today he called in sick. Come on, Cole is never sick, he can't be, he is invincible."  
  
"Phoebe!" the youngest Halliwell tried to talk sense into her sister. "How many times did you or me called in sick, when we weren't really. It doesn't mean anything. He might just want to get drunk. Or does not feel like going to work."  
  
"Paige, that's not it. After his return from the Wasteland, Cole has been really cautious about taking days off. I don't know why, but he really tries to make a career these days. But he was out of office all day yesterday and today. And after what you and I've seen..."  
  
"He is probably catching up on "over 18" activities." Paige finished.  
  
The middle Halliwell decided that she had enough. "Fine Paige, if you don't believe me, I'll do it myself. But let me remind you that just six months ago you were trying to convince me and Piper that Cole was up to something. We did not believe you and where did we end up?"  
  
Her sister gave up. "OK, Phoebe, I get your point. What do you want to do?"  
  
"I want to go to the Penthouse and see what's going on."  
  
"Don't you think it's a bit too direct? You said yourself that Cole hung up on you last night. What makes you think that he's even going to open a door to us?"  
  
"Oh, he will. And if not you'll just orb me inside."  
  
"Oh, no, Phoebe, I am not doing that. With all these powers Cole has, he'll incinerate us before we even finish orbing.  
  
"Fine," Phoebe retorted. "If he does not open we'll orb to the balcony and spy on him from there. Grab the invisibility potion."  
  
*****************  
  
Nicole stirred in bed and cast a glance at the clock on her bed stand. It was almost noon. She stretched her arms and snuggled under the blanket. She felt rested and relaxed and was very happy to see that nothing in the room was gliding, burnt or exploded. At the end it was a good idea to stay here. Nicole had fallen asleep almost immediately when her head had hit the pillow. She did not worry about setting the room on fire or exploding the TV set. And today she would move to her uncle's house, now her house. It would be so great to finally have her own place. Nicole's stomach grumbled, asking for food and she got up and headed into the bathroom. First shower and then she would wonder into the kitchen for some food.  
  
The sound of the door bell woke Cole up. He sat up in bed and ran his hands through his hair. He could faintly hear the water running in the bathroom. It was probably Nicole taking a shower. The door bell rang again. Somebody was really abusing the buzzer. Cole cursed and got out of bed. He glanced into the pip hole and groaned. Phoebe and Paige, Ms Paranoid and Ms Obsessive or the other way around.  
  
"Cole," he heard his ex wife's voice. "Open up, I know you're there." The half demon seriously contemplated sending Phoebe and Paige somewhere far away. Another dimension would do just fine. But it would probably bring the noble whitelighter and Ms Bossy to his doorstep and Cole did not want to have all Powers to Be after him, especially now, when he had a lot of things to sort out. He flung the door open and glared at two women in front of it.  
  
Paige caught her breath. In black T-shirt and pants with his hair messed up from sleep her ex brother-in-law looked very demonic and extremely hot.  
  
"Phoebe, Paige," he greeted politely, though with the distinct note of coldness in his voice. "What brings you here this time?"  
  
"You know perfectly well what brings us here!" Phoebe brushed past him and marched straight into the living room. There she turned on her hills and faced her ex husband. "I was trying to talk to you yesterday and you hung up on me. So we had no choice but to come here."  
  
Cole's mouth twisted into a wry smile. "As far as I remember, we did not have anything left to discuss. You told me I couldn't see other women. I told you it was none of your business, which it isn't since you divorced me. There was nothing else for us to talk about."  
  
"There is plenty to talk about," Phoebe retorted. "You are seeing an innocent and it's our duty to protect her."  
  
Cole started to get really tired from this conversation. "And what do you want me to do?" he asked coolly. Paige who kept quiet did not like the expression on her ex brother-in-law's face.  
  
"I want you to stop seeing mortal women. You can easily find yourself some demoness or a warlock, I don't care." Phoebe stated.  
  
"Don't you Phoebe?" Cole's voice was full of derision. "Because the way you are behaving tells me that you do. It reminds more of a jealous wife, not the woman who has "moved on"."  
  
Phoebe's mouth twisted into sarcastic smile. "Don't flatter yourself, Cole. I am well over you. And I told you about it millions of times. But I won't let you harm other women who have no idea what they are getting themselves into."  
  
The sparks in her ex-husband's eyes made Phoebe want to take a step back. "And how exactly do you want to stop me?" he asked, his voice deadly quiet.  
  
"We'll find a solution, just like we did before." The middle Halliwell stated firmly.  
  
Cole lost his patience. His features stiffened and he fixed both sisters with the fierce glare. Paige grabbed Phoebe's hand and was ready to orb out, but Cole waved his hand and the young witch found herself not able to use her escape power. Panic struck her. "What is it, Paige," a sneer married Cole's handsome face, "unable to flee? How does it feel to be trapped? Don't worry, I am not going to kill you like you would if you had a chance." His gaze turned to his ex wife. "If I were you, Phoebe, I would be very careful threatening me like this or anybody else for that matter. Because though you are powerful witches, you are not invincible by far. Now unless you have a vanquishing spell ready I suggest that you back off and leave me alone."  
  
"Don't you dare threaten me," Phoebe hissed in his face. "If anyone you should remember that it's dangerous."  
  
The reminder of how she vanquished him, the physical pain and the even stronger emotional pain of her betrayal made Cole lose his temper. He was about to send both Halliwells flying into the wall when a soft voice interrupted them.  
  
"Cole? Oh, I am sorry I did not know you had visitors."  
  
Cole turned around and saw Nicole standing in her night gown in the living room. Her eyes looked at him and there was so much worry and care in them that Cole's features immediately relaxed. "Don't worry. We are finished here." He waived his hand in front of two sisters and eyed them with contempt. "Phoebe and Paige were just leaving." He did not have to repeat it. The younger witch felt the barrier around her vanish; she grabbed her sister's hand and dragged her out of the penthouse. Phoebe obeyed. She was too shocked having seen another woman in the Penthouse. A woman wearing a night gown! Cole had another woman staying with him.  
  
When the door closed behind two witches, Cole heaved a sigh. He was so close to using his powers against the woman who he thought was the love of his life, his soul mate. When did it all end? Was it all his fault that sweet and innocent girl like Phoebe turned into the bitter and cruel woman who just left? If that's the case he was indeed pure evil.  
  
"I am sorry, Cole," he heard a soft voice behind him. "I did not mean to interrupt."  
  
The half demon shook his head. "No, you did not interrupt anything, which was worth continuing. Actually," he gave her a sad smile, "you appeared just in the right moment to prevent me from doing something I would have regretted later. So," he looked up at her, "I should really thank you."  
  
"Glad to be of service," Nicole smiled so broadly that for a second Cole got caught up in this smile. She was so beautiful and so innocent. She radiated such warmth that all he wanted was to hide in her embrace and forget everything in her kiss. Cole shook his head. He could not go down that route again. He would not spoil the life of this girl by bringing his dark soul into it. All the love he had for Phoebe did no good to both of them. And he'll do his outmost best to keep a safe distance from Nicole, safe for her and for himself. He seriously doubted that his sanity would survive another betrayal. 


	7. Chapter 8

Thank you very much for the reviews. Really means a lot to me and helps my muse. Here is the next chapter.  
  
Chapter 8  
  
When Phoebe and Paige arrived to the Manor they found a very worried Piper and Leo.  
  
"Where the hell have you been?" the oldest Charmed One yelled. "I come home, nobody is here, there is no note, your mobile phones are off and a frantic Elisa keeps calling every 10 minutes."  
  
"Don't yell, Piper," Phoebe was not in the mood for a lecture. "We went to see Cole."  
  
"Cole?" Piper repeated incredulously. "You went to see your ex husband who happens to be the most powerful demon on Earth and you don't want me to yell?! Why did you go and see him?"  
  
"Because I had to," the middle Halliwell yelled. "Because he's about to ruin somebody else's life and I am not going to stand and watch it happening. And don't start on your lecture, Piper, because I am in no mood to listen. When you come down we have to talk how to deal with this son-of- a-bitch. And now, if you excuse me, I have to go to work." She turned round and marched out the door.  
  
Leo followed her with the gaze full of concern. Then he turned to the younger witch, "Paige, what happened?"  
  
"You don't want to know," she answered and plopped on the sofa. "We went to Cole's because Phoebe was convinced that he was up to something. Her and Cole got into a massive fight. Phoebe demanded that he stopped seeing mortal women and he told her it was none of her business. And then Phoebe threatened him that we would vanquish him and Cole warned us that we'd better be careful threatening him. He was so angry, I never seen him like this, even when he was the Source. I thought he was going to kill us on the spot especially when he put this barrier around us so I could not orb. And then this blond girl came into the room and he just kicked us out.  
  
Leo and Piper exchanged worried looks. "Oh, God," Piper clasped her fingers. "Why did you even go there Paige? We don't want to fight Cole, we can't. He is invincible now and we can't stop him from dating mortal women. As long as he does not hurt them we have no reason to go after him. And in all honesty I do not believe that he will."  
  
Paige nodded in agreement. "I know Piper and I tried to talk Phoebe out of going there. But she just would not listen. And I did not want her to go there alone," she sighed. "I am worried about her," she continued. "She seemed to be completely obsessed with not letting Cole to get on with his life. And you should have seen her face when she saw this girl in the Penthouse. It was like somebody punched her in the stomach."  
  
Piper shook her head, "I don't know where it all comes from," she said. "A month ago we were all praying that Cole would give Phoebe a divorce and move on with his life. And now when he seems to be doing just that, it causes even more problems." She gave Leo a questioning look. "What shall we do?"  
  
The whitelighter looked at his wife with the eyes of an unhappy puppy. "I don't know Piper. I will try to reason with Phoebe but we all know how stubborn she can be. And as much as I don't want to be right about this, I think there is a significant degree of jealousy behind her behaviour and I really hope that it's because she just does not want another woman in Cole's life and not because she wants to get back with him."  
  
*******************  
  
Cole and Nicole were finishing their breakfast/lunch in Penthouse kitchen. While Cole was in the shower the young woman wondered into the luxurious kitchen just to find out that the numerous cupboards and massive fridge were mostly empty. This did not surprise her since Cole did not strike her as a cooking type. She decided to go downstairs to the sandwich bar she noticed the first time she came to see him and soon returned with two large Lattes, some juice and a selection of sandwiches with chicken, bacon and cheese. When Cole entered the kitchen he found Nicole pouring down the juice into the glasses. She smiled at him, "I took the liberty to invade your kitchen," she smiled at him, "I hope you don't mind?!"  
  
"Not when it smells like this," he breathed in the nice smell floating in the kitchen. "Where did you get all this?"  
  
"I went downstairs to the sandwich bar. But I hate cold sandwiches so I decided to warm them up. They'll be ready in just a minute." She handed Cole his Latte.  
  
After they enjoyed the selection of hot sandwiches, which Cole had to admit were much nicer than cold ones, Nicole eyed the half demon warily and decided to proceed with the question, which had been on her mind since she woke up.  
  
"Cole," she asked cautiously, "can I ask you something?" He nodded. "Have you made a decision?" she paused, "you know, whether or not you want to accept the inheritance and become a Lugel?"  
  
The half demon shot her a quick look and decided that the truth was the best answer. "Yes, I have," he answered carefully choosing his words.  
  
Nicole paused and then continued uneasily, "But you don't want to tell me, what you decided?!"  
  
Half demon heaved a sigh. "Look, Nicole. It's not that I don't trust you or anything. But I don't want my choice to influence yours. I mean, for me all this is not such a big change as it is for you. I always knew about magic, I grew up having magical powers, they are part of my life and always were. For the brief time when I lost them, I was lost myself. I did not know who I was anymore or what to do with my life. So I can partially understand how you feel. I also know that magic can severely screw up your life. And the more powerful you are, the tougher it gets. This thing the Lugels want us to do is going to be very difficult and dangerous. Of course, the powers you receive are fascinating and you probably are curious to try them. Also 20 billion dollars is a hell of a lot of money. But trust me you'll pay for having them and a higher price than you can possibly imagine. You'll pay for it with physical pain, grief, isolation, basically with parts of your heart and soul. So I don't want to influence you decision. It won't be fair to you."  
  
"And you think dumping this choice on me this way is fair?" Nicole grumbled. She was touched by his words and a little scared.  
  
"Probably not," Cole allowed himself a small smile. He liked her attempt to make a joke. "But this way two months down the line you can't blame me for your choice."  
  
"You are such a lawyer," Nicole shot, a hint of exasperation in her tone. But she was not really angry and had to admit that Cole was right there.  
  
Cole smiled broadly, "Sorry..." he drawled. "I'll try to be of more help in future."  
  
They sat in silence for a few minutes and then Nicole continued. "But since we are supposed to be the Chose Two, it means that either both of us have to accept or there is no point really?!"  
  
Cole nodded, "That's true, but try to think what's best for yourself. I am sure that even one of us will be able to help Lugels a lot. And this is not the choice you can get back on. From what your uncle said it looked to me that if you became a Lugel, you were going to die a Lugel as well." He paused and asked, "So have you made your decision?"  
  
Nicole tore her gaze from the empty cup she's been studying for the past 5 minutes. "I think I have," she said. Cole was surprised; he thought that Nicole would be deliberating her decision until the last minute. He felt concerned that she did not understand what her choice really meant. His thoughts were interrupted by Nicole. "I did not take the decision lightly, Cole, if you are worried about that. But if you knew me better you'd understand that for me it's not really a choice. My life for the past 25 years was not exactly what you call a happy life. You probably gathered already that my mother had very particular ideas for my upbringing. And let's just say that her ideas made my life pretty tough. If I don't accept this opportunity then she'll win. And yes, I did promise my uncle that I would not take the decision out of resentment and I am not. But for my whole life I was deprived of my heritage and I don't want to end my days without knowing what it is. Especially since there was nothing in my life before I came here that would tie me to it. I don't have a boyfriend or a loving family to go back to or even a favourite job. So it's not that I have to give up a whole lot. And the last thing, which is probably the most important I don't want to be saying in forty years time "I wish...". So I am going to "embrace my destiny" as my uncle calls it and become a Lugel." She paused and half demon could see that she was struggling to find right words, then she lifted her eyes and gave him a defiant smile. "And I just hope that you decided to do the same. See, I am not that honourable as you are and would not mind influencing your decision to the one, which would help me."  
  
Half demon smiled, "you don't have to. I would have accepted anyway." Seeing her questioning look he continued, "Well, it would give me something to do. And I am up for the challenge, in all honesty."  
  
Nicole's smile broadened "So we are partners?" she stretched her hand.  
  
"Yes, we are," he smiled back shacking it.  
  
******************  
  
In the realm of the Lugel's Council a hooded figure stared at the piece of parchment flashing with a dazzling blue sparks. Another hooded figure materialized next to the first and spoke with a distinct French accent. "They decided to accept their destiny. The first step is taken." 


	8. Chapter 9

Thank you so much for reviews. It really means a lot to me. Here is another chapter. It's quite short but I am working on much longer one at the moment. Let me know what you think.  
  
Chapter 9.  
  
A week later Nicole was standing in the living room of her uncle's mansion surrounded by boxes full of stuff she brought from London. During the last seven days her life changed by 180 degrees but she did not really have time to think about it. From the moment on Friday afternoon when Cole called Eric Sally and informed the latter that both Nicole and him accepted the conditions of the will the pace of their lives has increased a thousand fold. Firstly they rushed to Eric Sally to complete the inheritance paperwork. Eric had a stocky short woman standing next to him whom he introduced as a Kate Smith representative of the BOS Exports. BOS Exports were specializing in arranging visas, work permits, naturalization papers and all documentations necessary for residing in the foreign country. And as Cole told Nicole later BOS had a lot of dealings with the Underworld and as it appeared with all other magical worlds. In two hours time Nicole found herself having a green card, American style driving licence, National insurance card and a whole bunch of other documents including all the stamps she would collect if she was going back to London by plain. And all these documents were not false. Kate Smith told them with a note of pride in her voice that BOS always used real documents and just conjured the paper trail behind them. When all the paperwork was finished, Eric informed Cole and Nicole that they had 3 days to leave their respective jobs and by Thursday Nicole should also move to the USA. During the weekend Nicole managed to gain some control over her powers, so that at least they did not manifest themselves unexpectedly. During Sunday night young Lugels using the time difference between San Francisco and London visited Nicole's work and apartment where Cole conjured evidence and manipulated her employers and landlord so that Nicole could be out of her flat and her job by Wednesday. Then Cole blurred back to San Francisco promising to pick Nicole up again on Wednesday night. The next three days both of them worked around the clock trying to finish everything at work. The young woman also visited few friends she had and told them that she got a job in the US and was moving away. It took some effort on her part to convince them not to go with her to the airport, which could be uncomfortable since Nicole did not intend to fly ever again. She already managed to blur a bit and was definitely planning to use this power extensively.  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. She opened it and saw a middle age petite woman with dark hair and brown eyes standing on the porch with a small basket in her hand.  
  
"May I help you?" Nicole asked.  
  
The woman smiled at her and said with soft French accent. "Hi, my name is Celina Bouves. I am one of your neighbours. I just wanted to welcome you to the neighbourhood and to say that I am really sorry about your uncle."  
  
Nicole smiled, "Thank you. It's very nice of you to come round and I would have invited you for a coffee but I am afraid I have just arrived and don't have any food in the house."  
  
The middle aged woman shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I understand that since you just moved in you would be in no mood to rush going shopping. So," she handed Nicole the basket she was holding, "I brought you a small welcoming gift. It's coffee, bread, milk, some eggs and biscuits. It would make an unpacking process a bit easier." She flashed Nicole another smile.  
  
The younger woman was impressed. In London nobody would do anything like that. She took the basket and said gratefully. "It's very nice of you. I don't know what to say."  
  
"Oh, that's nothing. Me and your uncle were very good friends."  
  
Nicole perked up. It looked like her uncle had friends?! She carefully eyed the woman again. She was very pretty and definitely very French. Nicole wondered what type of friendship did this woman and her uncle share. "Would you like to come in?" she heard herself saying.  
  
The older woman smiled. "I'd be delighted. But only if I don't disturb you too much? You must have a lot of things to do."  
  
Nicole smiled. "I do have a lot of things to do but in all honesty unpacking is not one of my favourite activities. So I would be very glad to have a break."  
  
"In this case, I'll be very happy to come in for a moment."  
  
Nicole led her guest to the kitchen. She took out some coffee and biscuits from the basket and put the coffee maker on. "So how long have you lived here?" she asked.  
  
"Oh, long enough. About 25 years."  
  
"So you did not know my father?" Nicole continued.  
  
"No," Celina's expression sobered. "I moved in about a months after his death. It was a big blow for William. He never stopped missing him. I understood they were very close."  
  
"Yes," Nicole drawled. "I think they were."  
  
"And your uncle was so fond of you." Celina continued. "He used to talk about you a lot. He was so proud when you graduated and started work for this investment firm. It's such a shame your mother did not want him to keep in touch with you."  
  
Nicole looked at the older woman in surprise. The latter seemed to know a great deal about her family affairs. "I see you and my uncle were very close," she remarked.  
  
"We were good friends." The other woman replied curtly. "We both did not have any family. And when you travel as much as I do, it's difficult to make friends.  
  
Nicole decided not to push the subject further. She poured the coffee into two mugs and handed one to Celina. "So what do you do?" she asked.  
  
"Oh, I am a psychologist." The French woman replied. "I work as a consultant for the US government. So I spend a lot of my time in Washington. San Francisco is my home town. So I try to spend at least some time here, especially when I am writing."  
  
Nicole stared at the woman and suddenly recognised her face from one of the business psychology books she studied at University. "You are Professor Bouves?" she asked incredulously, "A world leading expert in business psychology?"  
  
The older woman had a pleased smile on her face. "Well, I did write a few books on business psychology. It's one of my interests. I also work on psychology of high achievements, extreme characters and a couple of others fields."  
  
Nicole was impressed. "I've studied your books at University and my ex-boss is a big fan of your book "The inner core of business success". I think he decided to follow this book to the letter."  
  
"Oh, then he'll never reach the pick of success," Celina laughed. "In order to achieve great success in any field you need to be a personality and be yourself. You can't do it just by following a book. Your uncle was a personality," she continued her expression becoming serious, "that's why he was so successful on his pass. And I am sure you'll go even further." She put her cup on the table and got up. "I probably should be going. It was great meeting you Nicole. I have to admit I really miss your uncle and it will be nice to have you around." she stretched her hand to Nicole. "I hope we can become good friends."  
  
Nicole shook the older woman's hand and smiled at her. "It was great meeting you too. And I promise next time I'll invite you for a coffee, I won't have to use yours."  
  
************  
  
Later that day Cole was finished up at Carter, Jackman and Kline. It was his last day and he felt absolutely wasted. For the last 3 days he worked almost non stop in order to finish some cases and tie all lose ends in order to be able to pass them to his colleagues. Now his desk looked unusually empty and Cole was putting a few personal belongings in a cardboard box. He accumulated surprising little during this year. Now when he was moving into a different phase of his life he had mixed feelings. While working at Carter, Jackman and Kline he went through some of the darkest days in his life: being possessed by the Source, being vanquished by his wife and her sisters, losing Phoebe's love. At the same time his happiest moments were connected to this place: marrying Phoebe, moving out from the Manor, finding out Phoebe was pregnant. These were things he wanted in his life, wanted with all his heart and soul. And the fact that he was robbed from them by the Source made his blood boil with anger. But something else made Cole feel even worth. The fact that Phoebe, the love of his life, the woman for whom he changed his life, given up Belthazor, with whom he wanted to grow old and have children, this woman betrayed him: she did not want to save him, she did not even want to hear his story, she did not care that he had suffered at the Source's hands as well, she simply did not love him anymore. During the passed month Cole found himself on the verge of madness. Under the hatred and accusations of the Halliwells he started doubting himself. Did he really use the Hollow because he so much missed his powers? Did he struggle with the Source for control hard enough or did he just give up? He spent long hours trying to remember every single day while he was possessed; feelings of being scared, helpless and frustrated, fighting every minute of the day to save the Charmed Ones lives. Why did he struggle so hard? It would have been much easier to just go along with Source's wishes. At that point Cole realized that if he continued down that road he would go insane. It was enough. He knew that he never betrayed Phoebe and her sisters and though he was not able to convince them of the truth, it was time to move on. He agreed to give Phoebe the divorce and wowed to never let another woman into his heart.  
  
Cole snapped out of his reverie. This was in his past, though it still hurt and he would never be able to forget it he had a new life ahead of him, new battles to fight. He picked up his briefcase and cardboard box and headed for the door.  
  
**************  
  
Evening found Nicole only half way through her unpacking. She spent the morning exploring the house. She did not have time to do it during her first visit. On second look the mansion was even more impressive. Her uncle had a very good and expensive taste. Everything in this house was done with love and such attention to detail, which only money could buy.  
  
Her own belongings looked out of place here. Nicole found that most of her books were already on the shelves in the library. The kitchen was very well equipped and the collection of DVD's in the living room exceeded anything she ever dreamed about. She hanged some of her clothes in the spacious closets and left the rest in boxes knowing that with the money she had now she could afford to buy new things. The knock on the front door made Nicole sigh with relief. At least now she had a legitimate reason to have a break. She swung the door open and saw Cole standing on the porch.  
  
"Cole," she cried out. She was glad to see him. She missed him while being in London. Nicole immediately squashed this feeling. This was wrong. "What brings you here?"  
  
Half demon did not really know why he came. He needed to speak to Nicole with regard to their 2 week training session which was due to begin tomorrow. But they could have easily done it over the phone. At the same time, Cole did not want to spend the evening on his own. His earlier musings over the last year's events left him craving for some distraction from his thoughts and Nicole Berg was a perfect person to lighten up his mood.  
  
"I wanted to check how your unpacking was going."  
  
Nicole grimaced and gave him unhappy look. "It's not going too great," she said motioning him inside.  
  
Half demon observed all the boxes still sitting in the hallway. "That's a lot of boxes."  
  
"What a subtle observation," Nicole scowled at him, she then heaved a defeated sigh "This house is too well equipped. All my cutlery, books, DVDs and CDs are already here. So I did not have to ask you to send all these boxes from London. And now I don't really know where to put all this stuff."  
  
Cole shrugged his shoulders. "If you want I can send it to the basement. Then you can keep it for a while and if you don't get anything out in the next 6 months you can safely donate all of it to charity. And if you get some things out, well, you keep them and chuck the rest."  
  
Nicole smiled at his iron logic. "And when did you learn to be so clever?"  
  
He grinned at her. "Well, when you've lived for over a hundred years, you kind of get used to moving and getting rid of stuff you've accumulated. Otherwise you'll need a palace to store all the crap.  
  
Nicole just stared at him open mouthed.  
  
"What?" Cole said looking surprised. "What did I say?"  
  
The young woman finally found her tongue. "How long did you say you lived for?" she asked staring at his face as if she's never seen him before.  
  
The half demon squirmed uncomfortably. "117 years. It's not that old for a demon. Actually it's very young."  
  
Nicole could not help but examine Cole's figure and face. Dark hair without a single touch of grey, deep blue eyes with just a few wrinkles around them and even those were very light and were coming more from his habit to narrow his eyes than anything else; powerful body with very well developed muscles as she saw herself just a few days ago. No, he definitely did not look older than in his early to mid 30s.  
  
Half demon felt very aware of himself under her scrutinized gaze. And her sparkling eyes made his insides grow very tight. "Look, you can stare at me all you want, but I am not going to transform into some old man with grey hair and a walking stick," he finally snapped.  
  
His voice got Nicole out of her amazement and she realized that she had been staring at Cole with appreciative eyes for the past 5 minutes. This realization made her turn red and she averted her gaze. "I am sorry," she apologised. "It's just I never thought you were more than in your mid 30s. How do you do it?"  
  
Cole shrugged partially relieved that she was not staring at him any more and partially amused by her obvious embarrassment. "I don't have to do anything. Demons age much slower than humans. I received my last power when I was about 30. So since then I have not aged much."  
  
"So what about me? Will I still age as I used to or not?" she asked curiously.  
  
Cole shook his head. "Not as you used to. You have demonic blood and your powers were unbound. Also I think Lugels live for a very long time. They are basocally immortal from what I know."  
  
"But they do die," Nicole retorted. "I mean my father is a different case, but uncle Will died as well."  
  
"Yes, but I don't think it's the same as what mortals call death. From what I've heard and it's only rumours or better said legends Lugels preserve the balance of forces in the Universe and when they finish their life span on earth they are shifted into a completely different Upper dimension. To reach this dimension the spirit has to go through incredible transformations that only Lugels are capable of. Upper dimension is the place of eternal knowledge, new spirits and souls are created there. That's why your uncle said that he could not be summoned. There is no way back from there."  
  
Nicole listened to him completely mesmerized by the story. "So does it mean that you and I when we are finished here will go to this dimension?"  
  
Cole shrugged, "Probably. I don't really know. Lugels are pretty much a mystery in the magic world. All I know are more myths than anything else. But," he smiled, "I think we have a good chance of finding out."  
  
Nicole nodded. All this was very fascinating and at the same time very scary. Sometimes she had to pinch herself just to be sure it was not a dream. And she was glad that Cole was around. He made it all look a bit more normal and his knowledge was very helpful.  
  
Half demon glanced at the clock on the wall. "Look, would you like to go for dinner? I don't think you have any food in the house and anyway there is no point doing the shopping since you are going to be away for two weeks. Plus it's the last day of the life as you knew it so it's worth celebrating?"  
  
A small voice at the back of Nicole's head reminded her about the decision she made just eight days ago to stay away from Cole Turner and the dangers that his charms presented. On another hand he did have a point that she was entering a completely different life and it was worth celebrating. And her self promise of never going for dinner with him looked a bit ridiculous since she was going to spend two weeks living in one house with him. So she smiled and nodded. "I'd love that. Where shall we go?"  
  
"Oh, there is this new restaurant, which supposed to be really good and has a nice view of the city. My now ex boss Kline was going on about it yesterday."  
  
"That's sounds good," Nicole murmured approvingly. She noticed that Cole was wearing an expensive blue suit. And by the sound of it her casual trousers and top would not be suitable for the restaurant he wanted to go to. "If you give me a minute I'll go and change," she said and pointed to the liqueur cabinet. "You can fix yourself a drink while waiting."  
  
That sounded good to Cole. When Nicole went upstairs he inspected the contents of the old Lugel's bar and found it more than satisfying. William Schwarzlight had a good and expensive taste. Cole powered himself a 20 year old scotch and set in one of the chairs his eye exploring the living room. His thoughts drifted away and were only interrupted by the footsteps behind him. Half demon turned around and found himself face to face with Nicole, who had already changed. She was wearing a dark blue mini dress with three quarter sleeve. The square cut showed a tasteful amount of fare skin. Simple gold necklace, a matching bracelet and earrings were the only jewellery she wore. She looked incredibly elegant and Cole was impressed. He always appreciated classy looks and liked when women did not overdo it with colours like Phoebe and especially Paige. Sometimes he almost got headaches from the rainbow of colours they were wearing. Cole pushed the thoughts of his ex wife away. He was going to enjoy this evening. He smiled to Nicole. "You look very nice," he remarked.  
  
She smiled back at him. "Thank you," she was very pleased with his words and even more wth the appreciative look he gave her. "Stop it," Nicole told herself. "Don't imagine things, which are not there. He is just being polite. He'd better be just polite."  
  
The drive to the restaurant was pleasant even though they got stuck in traffic. Nicole was telling Cole about her flatmates in London, greatly surprising the latter that she was still sharing a flat. She told him about house prices in London and that she wanted to buy her own place, which meant she needed to collect significant deposit. The two were so engrossed in the conversation that they did not notice a pair of dark brown eyes staring at them through the side window.  
  
Phoebe Halliwell had a serious feeling that somebody up there really did not like her lately. It was bad enough that in the past seven days she found out that the man who claimed his undying love for her just three weeks ago had another woman staying with him. After that day and especially after a long conversation with Leo she decided to put Cole's issue to rest. The whitelighter insisted on Phoebe taking a step back from her anti Cole mission. He said that the middle Halliwell needed some emotional and physical rest and she had to agree with him. Recently her powers were going haywire and the Charmed Ones could not afford that. Jason had a trip planned to Japan and under pressure from her family Phoebe decided to accept his invitation to go with him. The demonic activity was very low at the moment and it seemed to be a perfect time for a small vacation. Jason and her just got back a couple of hours ago and she was sitting in the taxi home, which moved with the pace of a snail along the XXX highway. After a long flight Phoebe felt tired and was almost asleep in the back of the cab when she turned her head to look at the window. She found herself staring at all too familiar profile of one powerful half demon. Phoebe could not believe her eyes. She set up and shook her head hoping that this was just a fluke of her tired brain. But her hope was about to be smashed into pieces. When she opened her eyes she saw a familiar black Porsche with her ex husband in the driver sit engrossed in the deep conversation with his female companion. Jealousy stabbed Phoebe in the gut. He looked relaxed and happy. The woman said something and they both laughed. At that moment the traffic in front of the Porches cleared and a powerful sports car quickly drove away. Phoebe followed it with her gaze, a thought coming into her brain that this car was taking Cole away from her forever. 


	9. Chapter 10 part 1

Hi! Thank you very much for the reviews. It's really encouraging. Keep them coming. Here is the next chapter.  
  
Chapter 10 part 1  
  
The sound of the alarm clock woke Nicole up. She hit it with a pillow and snuggled under her blanket. God, she did not want to get up. For a minute she enjoyed peace and quiet but then the alarm went off again this time on snooze mode and Nicole reluctantly drugged herself from the warmth of her bed. She switched off the alarm and headed to the shower. It was a new day and Nicole wondered what the day would bring her.  
  
It was the start of the second week of her training and it promised to be as difficult and as exciting as the first one, probably even more. During the first week Nicole had had to learn all basics of magic. From early morning to late afternoon she was reading books and practising using her powers. It was exhausting, sometimes frustrating and incredibly exhilarating.  
  
The house they were staying was a perfect school of magic. Except the great library the mansion contained a fantastic gym and a massive armoury, which according to Cole exceeded the one belonging to the Source. In the library Nicole and Cole found a timetable with all the books they had to read and the practical skills to learn. Nicole was shocked, in her wildest dreams she could not imagine learning all this. If she had to learn all of it by traditional methods it would take her decades. With the help of telepathy she managed to gain all this knowledge within days. But Nicole had to admit that if Cole was not there she would not have been able to stick to the timetable. For the first week the half demon was practically free since he already had all the background knowledge. So he spent his time helping Nicole to get through the books and mentoring her in all aspects of practical powers. The young woman was impressed. Cole was a very good teacher, not an easy one but very knowledgeable and supportive. He was very demanding and did not allow her to skive off. But at the same time he took a great care of her.  
  
Learning telepathically was very effective but also extremely tiring especially for her untrained brain. Self healing powers prevented Nicole from having pounding headaches. But they did not stop her feeling physically overloaded with information. In the evening of the first day Nicole felt particular bad: she did not want to eat, she could not bear to have the lights on, she thought she was going mad from images flashing non stop through her tired mind. Cole put her on the sofa, dimmed the lights and put his hands on her temples. He chanted something and then made Nicole breath deep, clearing her mind and she felt the now familiar sensation of his strength flowing into her mind taking away the tension. She was curious how he did it and kept nagging him until Cole explained that he was very surprised when she was able to reach him telepathically the night her powers went haywire in her hotel room. It led him to think that Lugels had telepathic links and he just tried to use it to channel his powers into her. And it worked perfectly just as everything he did using his magic. Sometimes Nicole felt really frustrated and annoyed with herself for not being able to use her powers as good as Cole and with the half demon for being so damn good.  
  
On the practical front the first set of skills they practiced was orbing, blinking, blurring and shimmering. Nicole found shimmering difficult, orbing sickening, blinking boring and blurring fantastic. Cole found it hilarious that Nicole instead of shimmering from one side of the library to another reappeared in the kitchen and then moved to pretty much every room in the house before she managed to complete the exercise. However, soon it was her turn to laugh when half demon tried to orb and blurred back in panic because he just orbed on the meeting of the Japanese witch with her whitelighter. When she asked him how was it possible that he orbed to Japan Cole admitted sheepishly that for the past few days he'd been craving for some sushi. After she got hold on her ability to move magically they started jumping from dimension to dimension, from Middle Ages to Ancient Egypt and from Japan to London transitioning from orbing to blinking and from blurring to shimmering. It was a real magical express and by the end of it Nicole could not only use any one of the powers without any difficulty but also use different ways of covering her tracks. This was followed by telekinesis and deflection powers, which made both her and Cole grateful for their self healing powers. Otherwise Nicole feared they would not be able to get up the next day. She was very pleased with her achievements but the next day gave her much more reasons to be proud of herself. They practiced energy balls and here she gave Cole a bit of a shock. Nicole smiled remembering his surprised expression when she hit all 10 aims he prepared for her.  
  
"Are you sure that you've never done it before?" he asked observing the results of her action.  
  
"Well not with the energy balls." She gave him a triumphant smile. "But I did have a bit of practice with knifes and paint balls." He looked at her with a questioning eyes and she continued, her expression sobering. "One of my teachers in school was very good in martial arts and all types of weapons. I think she was ex agent of some special forces. I don't know what she was doing in the boarding school but she taught me a great deal."  
  
"An ex agent?" he asked looking at her intently.  
  
"Yes," she answered, "you know all these SAS, KGBs and Mossads they have in every country.  
  
He waived his hand impatiently. "I know what these forces are. They all had deals with the Source. Who do you think taught them to fight like that?!"  
  
Her eyes grew wide, "Do you mean that they learnt fighting from demons?"  
  
Cole nodded. "Of course, the Source was kind of keen on them. Especially since he got first pick at recruits." He shot Nicole a provoking glance. "I think we should test how good this teacher of yours was?" he pointed at the garden lawn. "Care for some demonic fighting training?"  
  
Nicole nodded, she was a bit nervous since she had not practiced for a while. But when she found herself facing Cole her adrenaline kicked in and years of practice paid off. Cole was good, actually he was better than anybody she'd ever fought before. His movements were unexpected and incredibly precise. Nicole could not let her guard slip for a single second. And for a while she managed to deflect his attacks. Cole moved fast but he did not try to increase the pace of the fight. She quickly realized that if she let the fight to go on too long Cole would eventually catch her on mistake. And he did have much more experience than she did. So she decided that her only chance of victory was to move on the assault herself. She increased the speed of her movements and suddenly saw an opening. She deflected one of Cole's kicks and in return hit him in the chest causing him to fall. For a second she thought she won just to feel Cole's hand grabbing her foot and pulling it. Next moment Nicole found herself laying on her back and Cole looming over her pinning her arms to the side pressing her to the ground. The young woman froze staring at his face too aware of how close their bodies were. She could feel the solid muscles of his legs against hers and the effect that this had on her already fast heart beat was unnerving. The half demon smiled his chest heaving deeply, drops of sweat glistering on his forehead. "Not bad, not bad at all." He rolled off her, quickly got up and offered her his hand. "By the way, your teacher was not an ex agent or not an ex mortal agent. She was a demon."  
  
Nicole stared at him in disbelief, "How do you know?"  
  
"You're kidding! Though demons did teach the recruits to fight, they never gave away all tricks. None of these agents would be able to withstand a fight with a demon for longer than 5 minutes and you were really good. So it meant you were trained by a demon and a really good one."  
  
And he was right. Nicole smiled remembering how she beat Cole in a sword fight, and the mixture of annoyance and approval on his face. After that they practiced fire balls, shimmering, blurring, defence shields, freezing, exploding. She could not count all the dishes broken, the wooden logs burnt, vases exploded. The most problems she had was with fire and Cole to her delight struggled with aerokinesis. It did not last long and they ended up playing the game when Cole was conjuring streams of air and Nicole was freezing them instantly into the columns of ice.  
  
Nicole snapped from her thoughts when she realized that her body was getting wrinkly from being in the shower for too long. Today they were starting on new set of skills, which Cole called telepathic warfare, which Nicole found even more terrifying than fire balls and ability to change people into bricks.  
  
When Cole got downstairs Nicole was already there, having breakfast. "As always," Cole thought. They have been in this plain for a week. Initially the half demon was a bit worried about living with Nicole in one house for two weeks and he thought it was a bit over the top from Lugels to want both of them to stay in this plain of reality while they trained. But now he understood their reasons. The training was very intense, even for him. And he could only imagine how tiring it must have been for Nicole. For each day she had a list of books to read and a list of powers they should practice. In the evenings he could see the strained expression on her face and how pale she got and it was good that he was around to keep an eye on her. The half demon was really impressed by the young Lugel. She went through everything with determination he admired. And she was good. Cole could see the potential in her. And her fighting skills exceeded anything he could imagine. He was convinced that the demoness who trained her was sent by Lugels. And she did a very good job. There was also something else. Cole enjoyed having Nicole around. She was easy to get on with, she had a fantastic sense of humour and he could feel that she liked him. At the same time she kept a safe distance from him. Cole was used that women made moves on him but Nicole never even gave him a hint. If anything she was keeping him at arms lengths. They would sometimes joke and talk about their experiences and lives but than Nicole would put a wall and move away from conversation getting any more personal. And she managed to do all that without being rude or insincere. Cole could not understand her reasons, sometimes it amused him and sometimes annoyed. But he respected her privacy and it suited him.  
  
Today was going to be the first day when they would start to learn about Lugels and Cole was going to start telereading himself. The half demon was never keen on telepathic skills and his experiences with Barbas put him of them completely. But now it was his turn to learn how not only defend himself from telepathic attack but also use it as an assault weapon.  
  
Cole smiled at Nicole, "Morning," he said.  
  
"Morning," she replied returning his smile. "Did you have a bad night sleep?" she asked, "you look grumpy."  
  
"I thought I always look grumpy in the morning," he pretended to grumble.  
  
"Not like today. Usually you look just forbidding like a rock, today you are Mount Everest."  
  
"Did not think I reminded you of a rock." Cole frowned trying to hide a smile. "I slept well," he answered her earlier question pouring himself coffee. "I always do, I think it comes with demonic blood but I keep having these dreams. Recently it's an every night activity for me."  
  
"Tell me about it," she sighed. "All this info I am getting every day, the brain needs time to process it. I am surprised that I just don't get a message in my head "System overload."  
  
He nodded and bit into the sandwich. Nicole eyed him again and asked:  
  
"Cole, what do you know about telepathic powers? You don't seem too keen about learning them."  
  
The half demon was a bit surprised. He never told Nicole how he felt about telepathy. But she must have sensed it. He sighed, "Telepathy can be extremely powerful and even the strongest demons fear it above all. You can mess with your enemies even being in another dimension. It allows its owner to obtain the immense amount of knowledge and knowledge is power in itself. You can create a different reality in people's head, control their bodies and minds. It can't be seen and not everybody can even detect that something is wrong. I am more of a fist and knife kind of guy. I prefer an open fight even if it sounds strange coming from a demon. Also a couple of weeks ago I had my own experience with telepathy. The demon of fear was manipulating my mind trying to convince me that I was evil. I ended up losing my powers and...," he paused, "well, it was not a nice feeling."  
  
"You lost your powers?" Nicole looked at him surprised. "How is it possible? I thought Lugels were these all powerful, invincible creatures."  
  
Cole shrugged, "Nobody is completely invincible. There is always a power, which can affect yours. Anyway, with Barbas I don't think that my powers were balanced at the time. After coming back from the Wasteland I tried all of my powers and had a very powerful range but not even close to what I have now. I think that part of them was bound and got unbound the same time as yours in the mausoleum."  
  
Nicole shook her head. "You magic people have a weird life."  
  
Cole laughed, "Says one of the most powerful magic beings ever." He drained the last bit of his coffee. Ignoring the intentionally filthy look she gave him, he got up and opened the door from the kitchen, "Madam, shall we proceed?"  
  
By the end of the day both of them felt not just exhausted. Learning telepathy was difficult and practical training was even worse. They had blurred into different places from the Underworld to a Brazilian carnival practicing manipulating people's mind, reading thoughts of demons and even picking up on premonitions of witches. By the second day they found that their skills have improved dramatically and they were easily picking up on people's thoughts and even enjoyed a few funny moments after manipulating a couple of demons to start kissing each other instead of fighting. In the afternoon they got back to the Lugel's plain. Nicole checked the timetable and found that it was the last day of telepathy studies. "We have only one telepathic exercise left," she told Cole with a satisfied smile.  
  
The half demon was enjoying his afternoon scotch and did not feel like doing anything. "And what is it?" he drawled hoping that it was some trivial little thing, which they can do later, like much later.  
  
"Mind blocks and ways of breaking them."  
  
Cole tensed, "We already practised that. You had no problems breaking the mind block of that warlock."  
  
"Yes, but he never tried to put a serious mind block against us. He did not even know that we were there. It was a great test for secret mind reading but not for mind blocking and breaking."  
  
"So what do you suggest, we catch some kind of telepath, bring him here and practice on him?"  
  
"No, I suggest we practice on each other. It would be safer and more useful since we supposed to be equally powerful." Cole's face assumed a cold mask and Nicole could see that he was not pleased with her idea. "What's wrong?" she asked. "You don't want to do it?"  
  
Half demon paused, "No," he said finally, "I don't like this idea. Don't understand me wrong but I feel a little uncomfortable with letting somebody reading my mind."  
  
She heaved impatient sigh, "I don't want to read your mind. All we going to do is try to prevent each other from doing just that."  
  
"And if one of us manages to break the mind block of the other?" he asked with a cold smile. "What are you going to do? Not even have a pick in my thoughts?"  
  
She shot him a hurt glare and Cole suddenly felt guilty. "That's what you think about me?" she cried out, "that I just want an excuse to read your mind?! You obviously think very highly of me." She turned on her hills and left.  
  
Cole stayed in the living room. He finished his scotch and went to the library. There he saw Nicole sitting in one of the chairs staring aimlessly at a book she picked up. She looked tired and pale and half demon felt a stub of shame. For the last week Nicole had worked so hard and he did his best to help her but he did not give much thought to how she felt turning her life like this. He never knew the life without magic, for him what they did this week was completely normal, whereas for Nicole it must have been an experience from a madhouse.  
  
"Nicole," Cole cleared his throat. "I did not want to insult you. I just..."  
  
She did not let him to finish, "You don't have to apologize, Cole. I know it's not personal, you just don't trust people in general and women in particular. And I can't ask you to trust me since we've just met 2 weeks ago. But I know one thing. If telepathy is so powerful we need to be able to use it both for self defence and attack. And I thought that your passed experiences should have made you even keener to learn it. But it seems that you are more worried about me finding out some of your inner secrets. And I can't make you change your mind. But what I can do is practice myself. I want you to try to break through my mental block. This way you don't risk."  
  
Cole's face hardened. "You are very brave," he stated coldly, "after such a speech I would have been surprised if you trusted me with a kitten not your thoughts."  
  
Nicole's eyes became icy, "I would not trust you with a kitten," she said calmly. "But unlike the kitten I am capable of defending myself."  
  
Half demon could feel anger igniting in him. "Fine," he snapped. "Let's go."  
  
In the gym they sat on the floor opposite each other. Cole took a deep breath a stared into Nicole's eyes trying to clear his head from emotions. With his conscious he reached and tried to find an entry into Nicole's mind. The young woman could feel the pressure but she concentrated on strengthening the defence wall she created around herself. Cole had stepped up the pressure but she was strong. Neither of them noticed the sweat appearing on their foreheads. Cole decided to use the tactic of physical fighting in this battle of minds. He withdrew the pressure and started circling around Nicole's mind occasionally trying to find a weak point in her defence. The female Lugel quickly realized what he was doing. This tactic allowed him the chance to relax whereas Nicole had to keep the wall up at all times. By the rule she suggested herself she could not go on the offensive so Nicole had no chance left apart from trying to trick Cole. She relaxed her defences concentrating really hard on identifying the moment when he tried to enter her mind. And when he did she hit back at him causing Cole to gasp. But then she felt herself being hit by a wave of brain power. Both of them tried to break the eye contact but a beam of bright light linked them. It lasted just a few seconds and when it disappeared both Cole and Nicole collapsed on the floor.  
  
The half demon opened his eyes and looked around. He was lying on the floor in the gym. The room was completely dark so he figured he must have been out for a few hours. Cole tried to get up and groaned holding his head. Had somebody hit him with a baseball bat? When he switched on the light and saw Nicole's body sprawled on the floor. She seemed to be in deep sleep and he could not wake her up. Cole remembered his bickering with Nicole about his reluctance to do extra telepathy training and her suggestion to do one way training. He was mad at her because he knew she was right. So what happened during this training? He again looked at Nicole and thought, "She does not like lying on the floor, reminds her of the years she spent in that horrible school." Cole gasped aloud. He looked at Nicole terrified, "she keeps me on arms length because she's scared to fall for me like she did for this guy Chris. This miserable bastard." Cole sprang to his feet and started pacing around the room. How did he know all this? How was it possible that he knew exactly how Nicole's flat in London looked, who were her teachers, what she liked to eat and even, what she bought herself for her last birthday. He could easily trace in his head what Nicole did from the moment she was 3 to yesterday. It must have been this stupid exercise; he probably had broken through her mental block. But he could not remember even reading one of her thoughts, he never wanted to. All he remembered was this blinding light coming from her eyes. Cole stopped pacing and tried to come down. He needed to get Nicole out of the gym.  
  
He picked her up and carried her into the lounge, put her on a sofa and covered her with a blanket. She looked very peaceful in her sleep but Cole could not stop worrying. He did not trust telepathy, he knew that you could inflict some serious damage with it. Was he just too brutal in the way he tried to break through her defences? He would never forgive himself if he hurt Nicole. The other thing that worried him was what happened. He was not supposed to learn about her entire life. And what happened to Nicole? Did she also learn everything about him? Cole stared at her again. She looked really young, her chest lifting with every breath. Cole caught himself that he was pacing again. He stopped in front of the bar, poured himself a scotch and set in the chair just waiting for Nicole to wake up. It was pointless to guess, he'll just have to wait. The clock was ticking and Cole was sitting in his chair every once in while getting up to get some more scotch. He was always able to drink a lot of alcohol without getting drunk. But this time he drank so much that he did not notice how he's fallen asleep. He woke up when a sun light of sunshine hit his eyes. He cursed quietly and looked around. He was still sitting in the chair, his back was aching. Invincible or not he was not immune to muscle cramps. The half demon got up and went closer to check on Nicole. As he approached she stirred and opened her eyes.  
  
She saw Cole in the middle of the room. He looked as if he spent the night in the chair. He had a strange expression on his face. "Morning," Nicole smiled, "you look like you've been hiding from the bounty hunters for the past week." The moment her words escaped her mouth, Nicole's eye grew big in shock. She stared at Cole, her brain full with memories, which were not there a day ago. "You..., you are Belthazor?" she whispered.  
  
Cole did not want to hear or see what would follow. He'd been through this and he did not want to see Nicole's face when it turned scared and disgusted. He swirled on his hills and headed to the door. Just before leaving the room he looked back at her shocked face and transformed into his former demonic half. Cold black eyes stared at Nicole and the low roaring voice announced, "I am Belthazor."  
  
The half demon went to his bedroom and headed to the shower. The hot water pouring on his body did not bring him the relief he wanted. He did not know what he felt: fear, anger, resentment. He was tired, for how long was his past going to haunt him? Probably forever. He did not even want to think how he was going to face Nicole again and cope with her fear and hatred. He had enough of that with the Charmed Ones. And they knew only the tiniest part of what Nicole has just learnt. Cole decided that drowning himself in the shower was not going to help him. He switched off the water and headed to the dresser. Should he just pack his stuff and go to the penthouse? He doubted Nicole would tolerate staying in one house with him.  
  
A knock on the door snapped him out of his gloomy thoughts. He quickly buttoned his shirt and opened the door. Nicole stood there eyeing him with a wary expression. "Can I come in?" she asked quietly.  
  
Cole stepped aside letting her in. The young woman stared at him. The half demon's expression was unreadable. But she could feel the cold defensive air coming from his now steely blue eyes. She took a deep breath trying to get her courage. Cole did not say anything and Nicole decided that it was better to just jump into the deep end. "Cole, I am really sorry for what happened. And I completely understand if you never want to speak to me again. I just want to tell you that I honestly did not see it happening. I was stupid and arrogant that I did not listen to you about the dangers of telepathy. You have much more experience in magic than I do and I should have listened to you. If there is any way we can reverse it I will do it." She paused for a moment and continued, "And I know it's a lot to ask but I just hope that you won't hate me." She finally dared to lift her eyes and look at him. She could not understand his expression. Cole looked at her as if she was a ghost. His eyes were fixed on her face as if he wanted to penetrate into the very depth of her soul.  
  
"Are you serious?" he asked finally in a hoarse voice.  
  
Nicole's heart fell. "Oh," she stammered, "I was just hoping... that maybe you'll forgive me. I know that there is a slim chance. But..." Nicole tried to fight back her tears. "I should probably go," she turned to leave the room when Cole finally found his tongue again.  
  
"No," he said, "I meant aren't you scared of me?"  
  
Nicole stopped in her trucks and turned back. She finally could understand what was it she saw in his eyes and knowing what he'd gone through in the past 3 years made Nicole forget all her wariness and ideas of staying away from him. She looked deep in his blue eyes. "I am not afraid of you Cole. I knew that you were dangerous the moment I met you. You don't have to be a telepath for that. But I trust you and I know that you won't hurt me."  
  
Cole could not believe his ears; he searched Nicole's face for a single sign of insincerity but could not find any. He could not help but ask, "You trust me in spite of what you learnt about me?"  
  
Nicole allowed herself a small smile, "Whatever you've done is in the past. I am not the one to judge you. You went through so much during your life and if it was anyone else I really doubt they would be able to change their life the way you did. For myself I can only say that I am proud to be working with you and hope that we can become friends." She stretched her hand towards him as she did a week ago.  
  
Cole took her hand in his and stared intently into her face, a clear thought forming in his head. He was never going to let her go. Nicole Berg belonged to him. A woman who could see his past and not turn her back on him was the most precious gift God could ever give him. And now he knew that she was attracted to him. This thought made Cole smile. Then it occurred to him that he had a confession to make as well. He cleared his throat, "I hope so too," he said finally letting go of her hand, "and the sooner the better since, both of us already know so much about each other that we ought to be very close friends."  
  
She stared at him an understanding hitting her mind. "Oh, my God," Nicole gasped. "You too? You know all about me as well?" Cole gave her a sheepish smile. "And you made me humble myself all this time, when you also learnt everything about my past."  
  
"Well, it was your idea," Cole pointed out and immediately backed away to avoid encounter with her fist.  
  
Nicole glared at him, her face flashing bright red. She knew he was right, it was her idea. But how the hell she was going to look him in the face again? "And how detailed is your knowledge?" she managed to mumble staring at her feet.  
  
"Pretty detailed," he said gently. Then he lifted her chin forcing her to look at him, "But don't worry I will never bring it up. I promise." He allowed himself a smile, "And if I break this promise you can kick my ass with your sword again."  
  
"You bet I will," she answered grateful for his sense of humour.  
  
He grinned back at her and said. "But I expect the same from you. No witty comments miss Berg. Otherwise I will have to retaliate."  
  
They laughed, relieved that they seemed to come out of their telepathic ordeal being stronger than before. 


	10. Chapter 10 part 2

Chapter 10 part 2  
  
At the same time 11 members of Lugel Council gathered for their special meeting.  
  
"It happened," Celina announced, "the link between the Chosen Two has been activated. They are ready to meet us."  
  
"We did not expect this to happen so soon," Vladimir remarked.  
  
"A lot of things happened recently that we did not expect," a tall black man ironically remarked. "We never thought that the Chosen Two would be Lugels. Our whole plan is in tartars."  
  
"I think you are exaggerating, Sylvester," Celina stated confidently. "We just have to adjust it. And I think we better do it after the discussion with the Chosen Two. With regard to the fact that their link has been activated earlier than expected I think this just shows how special they are. And I believe that they will achieve things none of us could even thought possible."  
  
"But they still have a long way to go both in their training and in increasing the link between them before the prophecy is fulfilled," Carlos stated. "And from what I can see there is still a lot of things that can go wrong. At the end of the day we are talking about two very strong characters that have too much mortal blood in them."  
  
"Too much mortal blood is the essence which makes them what they are. And with regard to the pitfalls on the way it's our duty to help the Chosen Two to avoid them. And I think that it's time for us to start getting acquainted. They need to know the plan and the dangers on their way. Plus it will move them closer to their destiny."  
  
"So who'll make the first contact?" a woman to her left asked.  
  
"I would like to go myself." Celina continued. "And may be Vladimir can accompany me?" The male Lugel nodded indicating his agreement. "Is that agreed?"  
  
Cole and Nicole enjoyed early lunch since they already skipped dinner last night and breakfast this morning. Suddenly a man and a woman appeared in the kitchen entrance. In an instant Nicole and Cole were next to each other both in a fighting stance. "Oh, I see you trained her well," the woman smiled.  
  
Nicole could not believe her eyes, "Celina!" she cried out. "How? You are not..."  
  
"A Lugel?" the French woman sat on the chair. "Yes, I am. Sorry I did not tell you the first time we met. But it was not a right place."  
  
Cole shifted his gaze from one woman to another and then to the Eastern European looking man. Nicole decided it was time to explain. "I met her," she gestured to Celina, "a week ago, she came to uncle's Will house and introduced her as his neighbour."  
  
"And I did not lie," Celina said calmly. "I was his neighbour. I was moved from France 25 years ago when your father died. And it was convenient at a time for me to settle next to your uncle. Everything I told you was the truth. I just did not tell you that I was a Lugel."  
  
Nicole eyed the woman suspiciously and Cole decided it was time to interfere. "So what brings you here now?"  
  
Celina looked at him with dark penetrating eyes. Half demon felt a little uncomfortable as if she was trying to reach his soul but he couldn't feel any attempt from her side to read his thoughts.  
  
"Well, since the link between you two has been activated you are truly now the Chosen Two. So your pass begins here and it's time for us to get acquainted properly. This is Vladimir, he is a Lugel for Europe. There are 13 Lugels at any given time, it's roughly two for each continent, only Eurasia has 4. And one Lugel, who is the Secretary of the Council and keeps an eye on everything and is there for the emergences. For the past 25 years we were 12. But now things changed and the Council is complete again." Both Lugels smiled with the air of pride and content.  
  
"So what's now?" Nicole asked.  
  
"We want to tell you about the task ahead and also about the dangers you'll face." Vladimir answered.  
  
"Well, my uncle has already told us about the task." Nicole remarked coolly. "We are supposed to broker the peace between the world of good and the world of evil by channelling activities of demons and witches into business, charities etc. We are just not very clear what practical steps have to be taken?"  
  
The older Lugels exchanged quick glances and Celina proceeded.  
  
"Our plan was that one of you will become the Source of All Evil." She glanced at Cole. "You'll know that we thought about you. You've already had experience and it would be just logical that you'll lead the Underworld." Half demon's expression quickly changed from total shock to sarcastic amusement, but before he could say anything Celina continued. "We know that you were possessed at a time but we also know that if Belthazor continued the way he was going before your encounter with the Charmed Ones he'd be the next Source. It was the matter of time. Anyway you had enough cloud behind you to pull it off in a short period of time. And you would be able to lead the Underworld with the iron fist."  
  
Nicole was listening with the acute interest, "So what was my task supposed to be?"  
  
"You were supposed to become the head elder and to sway the whitelighters and the council into agreeing to the deal."  
  
"You sound as if we are not supposed to do it anymore." Nicole's eyes glimmered with suspicion.  
  
"You're right," the male Lugels said firmly. "We can't do it anymore."  
  
"Why not?" Cole was surprised. The plan Lugels suggested was actually quiet similar to what he expected.  
  
"Because, as well as being the Chosen Two you're also Lugels," Celina answered.  
  
"And that's bad because?" half demon looked at her puzzled.  
  
"Two reasons. Lugels can't be involved in direct ruling of the worlds of good and evil. We stand above this worlds and changing it means breaking the balance of powers. Especially since you are the Chosen Two. And this brings us to the second reason. You are special because you have a special link. When you are together your powers amplify. You get 100, even 1000 times more powerful than you are on your own. You can do pretty much anything from reversing the time to moving it forward. But only together. This is the safe guard mechanism. The fact that you are Lugels means that you received powers from two belated Lugels, which were your father and your uncle," she looked at Nicole. "We don't have control over to whom whose powers are passed. What happened that Nicole received powers of her father and Cole received powers of William Schwarzlight. But Robert's powers were defective; they lacked invincibility, which he passed to his wife. This means that Nicole lacks it as well. So as long as you are together because of your link, Cole's invincibility is enough to protect both of you. And by together I mean physical contact. That's why we can't send one of you to the Underworld and another to the Elder's realm."  
  
French woman moved her gaze from one young Lugel to another. Both Cole and Nicole were quiet trying to digest the information. Half demon was the first to speak up.  
  
"Why don't one of you pass his or her invincibility to Nicole. Since she's one the Chosen Two, she'll need it more than any of you. And then we can stick to the plan."  
  
Vladimir smiled sadly. "We can't. You need a special connection to be able to pass the powers. Robert could it because he was in love with Katherine, they were married and she was pregnant with their child therefore completing this link only after the birth of the child, which linked them forever. You two will be able to swap powers because you are linked as the Chosen Two. But if Cole passes his powers to Nicole he'll stop being invincible himself and that's does not help us. So you two have to stay together. There is no other choice. Plus as we said Lugels cannot directly rule the Underworld or Powers to be."  
  
"But manipulating them is fine," Cole retorted sarcastically.  
  
"Pretty much, yes." Vladimir smiled mischievously. "That's are the rules we are playing by."  
  
Half demon snorted but did not say anything.  
  
Nicole who was quiet so far asked. "So what's your plan now? How can we broker the peace without actually ruling both worlds?"  
  
Celina shrugged her shoulder. "The only way we see it possible is to find somebody else who will rule the Underworld and Powers to be. You will be the force and the control behind them. But they need to be completely committed to their task."  
  
Cole could not hide his scepticism any longer. "And who do you suggest we make a puppet Source of All Evil? I have to tell you that even if we get somebody to become the Source, what happens if they don't want to be the peace keeper after the inauguration? Of course we can kill him but then we'll need somebody else and there are no guarantees that this person would be any better. Plus it has to be a very strong individual to rule the Underworld and keep demons in submission."  
  
Celina nodded in agreement to what he said, "We thought about this all and I think we found a perfect candidate."  
  
"Who is it?" Nicole asked curiously.  
  
"His mother," Vladimir pointed at Cole.  
  
The latter's face paled, "I don't think it's a right time for jokes," Cole said in a deadly cold voice, his eyes flashing dangerously.  
  
"I am not joking," the Lugels replied calmly. "Elizabeth Turner, also known as Belthora would be a perfect candidate to become the Source of All Evil."  
  
"But she is dead," Nicole finally found her tongue. "She died thirty years ago." She looked at Cole for confirmation and he nodded.  
  
"No," Celina shook her head. "She did not die. Raynor lied to you. He would not kill somebody whom he could use to manipulate and blackmail Belthazor. It's not his style to kill potential bait. Raynor feared your mother since she was getting really powerful and was a favourite of the Source himself. And with Belthazor by her side she was threatening to take over the Brotherhood and in time could take over the Underworld. So he used the old spell in the Grimour to strip your mother of her powers and block her memory. And for the past 30 years she lived in Washington as a mortal. She has no recollection of her life as a demon."  
  
Nicole shot Cole a worried glance. His expression was unreadable. But by now she knew him well enough to understand that under his cool façade there was a volcano of emotions ready to erupt.  
  
"But Raynor never mentioned it to me even when he was trying to sway me back to evil."  
  
"Initially he did not want to, he thought he could influence you in other ways. He did not really fancy Belthazor reunited with his mother. And then he did not have a chance. You killed him too quickly. And he never told anybody else, even the Source. This spell could only be used by the Source himself. I think that Raynor fancied himself as the future Source and he had enough powers so he did not want to awake early suspicions. And that's why you did not find out when you were possessed by the Source. He did not know himself."  
  
Cole shook his head trying to get his thoughts at least in some sort of order. All this was totally unbelievable. His mother was alive. And Lugels wanted her to become the Source of All Evil. He smiled to himself. She could totally do it. His relationships with his mother were always strange. He remembered that she was very affectionate when he was little. And even when after killing his father they moved to the Underworld she protected him and took care of him. When he became a little older she started training and teaching him everything he needed to know to become an upperlevel demon. And that's when she distanced herself. She became colder and rougher. He was very hurt then by the way his mother treated him but later he understood that she had to train him not to trust anyone and not to have any weak spots in his heart. It was not safe to have a heart in the Underworld. And in being distant and cold she helped him to survive and become the almighty demon Belthazor, the youngest member of the Brotherhood. At the age of 18 she got him a separate apartment and placed him under the mentorship of Raynor. Since then he saw her very rarely. She came to his ordaining into the Brotherhood of the Thorn. She had a proud smile on her lips but her eyes were different. There was a mixture of deep sadness, worry and helplessness in them. After that Cole became very busy with the Brotherhood. He saw his mother about once a year when they encountered during some ceremony in the Underworld. He knew that she was becoming ever more powerful working for the Source directly. He also remembered how she saved his life when a powerful coven of witches went after him for killing their leader. The coven made a deal with the vampire clan and Cole would certainly have been made into a vampire if his mother did not show up from nowhere, killed the vampire clan and then helped him to destroy what was left from the witchery coven. She never told him how she found out about it. But Cole had a suspicion that she was keeping an eye on him in his mission. This happened ten years before Raynor told him that his mother was vanquished by a couple of witches. At a time Cole buried his grieve in revenge and killed both witches and their child. He never really allowed himself to mourn his mother. It was not something demons did but he paid a dark priest a handsome fee for organizing a dark magic memorial for her. Now his mother was living in the mortal realm with no memory of what she was. She probably would not even recognise him. Cole snapped out of his thoughts. "I want to see her," he stated firmly looking at the older Lugels.  
  
They exchanged quick glances and Vladimir said. "By all means, that's what we were planning on doing anyway. But you need to finish your training. Because you need to learn how to reverse the spell Raynor cast. It's a very tricky one. You need to break the block on her memory using telepathy first and only then use the spell to return her powers. And this requires ability to tap into the magical matter of the Universe and you still have to learnt how to do it. At the moment there is no point going, she won't even recognize you."  
  
"I want to see her now," Cole repeated. "I need to know that she's fine. Then we can see about reversing that spell."  
  
"You don't trust us?" Celina remarked.  
  
"How did you guess?" Cole smiled wryly. "I had good mentors. Taught me not to trust anyone."  
  
"Fine," Celina gave him a cool stare. "But you can't go alone. We all go. But don't start asking her any questions, she won't remember you and you can't reverse her spell until your training is finished."  
  
"Fine," Cole replied with the similar stare.  
  
"Then follow us," and the older Lugels disappeared.  
  
Cole was about to blur after them when he felt Nicole's hand firmly grasping his arm. "Don't want to get lost," she said and they disappeared after the older couple. They reappeared in front of the small house in the posh neighbourhood of Washington DC.  
  
"She lives here," Celina said. "We'll be waiting for you on the other side of the road." The older Lugels disappeared and left Cole and Nicole along on the porch.  
  
"Do you want me to go as well?" Nicole looked at Cole. She still had her hand on his arm and the warmth radiating from it felt calming and supporting.  
  
"No," he said. "Don't go." He turned to the door and knocked. Few seconds passed before the door swung open.  
  
A tall beautiful woman in her late forties stood in the doorway a polite smile on her face. "Can I help you?" she asked in a smooth husky voice.  
  
Cole was just staring at his mother. Or to be truthful to the shadow of a woman who used to be his mother. She looked to be in her mid to late forties, demonic blood prevented her from getting older but apart from that there was nothing of old Elizabeth left. The statue of power and confidence, which she possessed, was replaced by a slump shoulders and nervous putting hair behind ear gesture. Her usually tanned and toned skin was now pale and tired. But the biggest change was in her eyes. Cole remembered his mother's eyes: they were sparkly black, full of energy, strength, challenge and sometimes humour. Now they looked grey, almost dead, as if a grey mist has overcast them. And underneath this mist there were pain and confusion and the smile on her face was more forced than anything.  
  
Nicole shot half demon a quick glance and realised that it was up to her to come up with cover up story. She feverishly thought about something to say, "We are from the local council conducting a survey about the maintenances issues in this area." A local authorities badge materialized in Nicole pocket and she flashed it at Cole's mother. "Would you mind if we ask you some questions?"  
  
"By all means," the older woman opened the door wider allowing them to come in. Nicole and Cole entered the house. On the inside it was not big but looked very comfortable. They got seated in the living room.  
  
"So what would you like to know?" Elizabeth asked.  
  
Nicole gave Cole a discreet nudge in the ribs. He cleared his throat and asked.  
  
"We'll just start with some basic questions. If you can tell us your name, how long you've been living here, do you have any family living with you?" he asked and Nicole retrieved a writing block and a pen she's just conjured from her pocket.  
  
"My name is Elizabeth Raynolds," she smiled at Cole, her face suddenly lighting up. "I've been leaving here for the past 30 years, alone. I am a widow." Young Lugels exchanged surprised glances. Raynolds was the surname Raynor used when he was in the mortal realm.  
  
"Sorry," Nicole managed to mumble the appropriate response.  
  
"Don't worry," Elizabeth replied without even glancing at Nicole. She was staring at Cole, her eyes a complete turmoil of feelings. "What's your name?" she asked half demon. "You look vaguely familiar. Have we met before?"  
  
Cole had to master every ounce of self control to keep his emotions in check. "My name is Cole Turner," he cleared his throat again. "And I have just moved to Washington DC."  
  
Elizabeth eyes widened when she heard his name. She stared at Cole for a little longer and then shook her head. "I must have been mistaken." She shifted her glance to Nicole. "So what are you interested to know?"  
  
After another 5 minutes of uninterested questions and bored answers young Lugels left the house. They joined the older couple and blurred back to the Lugel's realm.  
  
"We need to restore her memory and return her powers." Cole stated firmly when they reappeared in the library.  
  
"We will," Celina looked at Cole. "But please try to keep a cool head, Cole. At first you need to finish your training."  
  
"Why can't you do it?" half demon demanded impatiently.  
  
"Because it's much easier if you are related. That's why Raynor married your mother before he performed a power/memory stripping ritual."  
  
"That's not possible. My mother would never marry Raynor."  
  
"Of course she did not do it willingly. He used the old Seer's potions to drug your mother. That's why he managed to do it so easily."  
  
Nicole who was quiet for a while sat next to Cole and put her hand on his shoulder. "Look, Cole, I know how you feel. We have just 3 days left of the training and then we'll be able to restore your mother's memory and also prepare what we have to say to her regarding our proposal for her to become the Source."  
  
Cole gave her a stare. "And if she does not want to become the Source?"  
  
Nicole withstood his stair and said in a firm voice, "Than we'll just let her get on with her life and find somebody else to do the job."  
  
Cole shifted his gaze at older Lugels. "We can't force anybody to do the job against their will," he confirmed. "Just remember Cole that you had willingly accepted your destiny. You can't turn round now and decide that you want to spend the rest of your life doing something else."  
  
Cole zapped the man with a furious glare. But Lugels eyes did not express anything accept concern. "I remember my promises very well," Cole stated coolly.  
  
An uneasy silence fell in the library. Celina was the one to break it. "There is another thing we need to talk about." She took a deep breath. "After you leave this place, you are going to start working on your task. This will involve both of you working in the underworld and among witches and other magical creatures. It's important that you stay together since Cole's invincibility would protect you but only when you are in physical contact."  
  
Both Cole and Nicole nodded and the latter remarked. "We remember all that. You made it perfectly clear earlier."  
  
Celina smiled relieved and continued. "Well, then we just want to let you know that we think it would be safer if both of you live in Cole's penthouse, not in the Schwarzlight's mansion."  
  
Nicole gulped for air and stared at the French woman. "What?" she asked.  
  
"It's just Cole's penthouse is smaller so you'll be closer to each other than in the mansion." Vladimir explained calmly.  
  
"What?" Nicole repeated. "You want us to live in one house?"  
  
The older Lugel raised his eyebrows. "Of course. I thought that was obvious. It's not like you stopped being a Chosen Two when you get home. The danger is always there. So you have to stay together in order to avoid any accidents. You said yourself that you understood it."  
  
"I understood that we have to work together not to live together." Nicole cried out. "It's out of the question."  
  
"Why?" Celina seemed to be amused by Nicole's outburst. "You've already been living together for the past week and a half. Does not look that it caused any programs."  
  
"There is a hell of a difference between a couple of weeks and indefinite."  
  
"You don't have to live together indefinite, just until you broker the peace."  
  
"It's still means several months. My uncle was talking about at least half a year and probably a year." Nicole glared at the older Lugels and then turned to Cole. "And why are you so quiet all over sudden? Tell them that we are not going to do it!"  
  
Half demon shrugged his shoulders and tried to keep a straight face. "I think they have a point. We have a lot at stake here and if us living in one house can take some of the danger away, I think it's worth considering."  
  
Nicole seared Cole with a deadly glare. "Well, I still disagree," she snapped. "We can't go everywhere together. It's ridiculous and not practical. And I don't want to talk about it." She turned on her hills and left the library.  
  
Half demon was about to follow her when Celina stopped him. "Let me handle this," she said quietly.  
  
Nicole went into the garden. She was fuming. She could not do it. These two weeks living under one roof with Cole was already too much, eating at one table with him, sleeping in the next room, spending the whole day with him. And especially after she learnt about his past and his love for Phoebe, Nicole did not want to get closer to him. She already felt her heart responding to him. Today when she saw his pained expression when he found out about his mother, her heart was flying to him, wanting to help and ease his pain. Her body ached for a touch of his body. She was falling for Cole, falling really bad. And they were supposed to spend a lot of time together in the next months. She could try to fight her feelings but she really needed some time apart from him. If they stayed in one house it was only a matter of time till her heart takes control over her mind and then it would be too late. She could not go through another heartache.  
  
A sound of steps behind her snapped Nicole out of her thoughts. She saw Celina looking at her with a motherly expression. Nicole was not in the mood for an open-hearted conversation. She stared at Celina with cold eyes. The French woman shook her head and said, "You can be angry at me all you want but it's not going to change anything. You know yourself that you should stay with Cole. But for some reason you are not acting according to your own better judgement and I want to know why."  
  
Nicole smiled wryly, "I am acting according to my better judgement".  
  
Celina sighed, "That's what I thought."  
  
Nicole did not answer but gave an older woman an annoyed look.  
  
Celina sighed again. "Look, Nicole. I understand that you don't want to get too close to Cole. But this is not a reason to risk your safety. Besides why are you so determined to push Cole away?"  
  
Nicole lost her temper, "I think it's none of your business what I do and why I do it!" she hissed. "You claimed to be friends with my uncle and that you cared about me. But in reality all you are interested in are your precious Chosen Two and their destiny. And you don't care what will happen to us afterwards. But I will have a life to lead and I would like to preserve some peace of mind and integrity of my heart."  
  
Celina's face changed. Her usually pale face flashed pink, soft eyes glimmered dangerously. "You don't know anything about me and your uncle", she said abruptly. She took a deep breath and continued calmer, "You can believe me or not, it's your right. But I do care about you. I promised William that I will help you and I do everything possible to keep my promise."  
  
Young Lugel felt guilty for her outburst, "Sorry," she mumbled.  
  
"It's OK," Celina smiled. She came closer to Nicole and touched her shoulder. "I know you got burnt before but so did Cole. And that may be a good thing for both of you."  
  
"How him being in love with his ex wife can be a good thing?"  
  
"Do you think it's a real love? Cole never loved before he met Phoebe. She was his first love. You know yourself how the first love is: passionate, even obsessive. But it usually is neither the last love nor the lover ever lasting," she paused and continued quieter, "In the past I did a mistake of not taking a chance for love when I had it. And I've never got the second one. Don't push away your chance." 


	11. Chapter 11

Thank you very much for the reviews. It's very encouraging. Please keep them coming. Also thanks for suggestions. It's really helps me when I write. Here is next chapter. Hope you enjoy it.  
  
Chapter 11.  
  
Phoebe was putting the final touches of her make up when Piper came in to her room.  
  
"You look really nice," the older Charmed One smiled at her sister. "Do you have a date with Jason?"  
  
"Yes," Phoebe closed her lipstick and observed the final result. "But it's not really a date. We are having dinner with his sister."  
  
"Oh," Piper raised an eyebrow, "I did not know he had a sister."  
  
"Well, he does. She just moved here from New York. She stayed there for the last 5 years, so I've never met her." Phoebe picked up a pair of high hills from her wardrobe. "She's apparently a very good lawyer. Jason says she's fed up with cold winters and wants to move somewhere warmer. She is looking for a job now."  
  
The door bell rang interrupting the sisterly conversation. Phoebe picked up her purse and hurried downstairs, Piper followed her sister and both of them greeted Jason Dean. The oldest Halliwell wished the couple to have a great night and headed upstairs. She was ready to lie down, this pregnancy made her really tired in the evening.  
  
Couple of hours later Phoebe found herself enjoying a pleasant conversation with Jason and his sister. Young witch was a bit worried meeting the first member of the Jason's family. But Veronica Dean turned out to be very nice. Her and Jason were obviously in good relationships but not as close as the Halliwell sisters.  
  
"So how is your job hunting going?" Jason asked.  
  
Veronica gave her brother a very pleased smile. "Actually not that bad. I already had an interview today with one of the best firms in town. There is an opening for a partner position there."  
  
"Which firm is it?" Phoebe asked just to maintain the conversation.  
  
"Carter, Jackman and Kline." Veronica replied. "One of their partners has just left."  
  
Phoebe almost chocked on her chicken. "You said Carter, Jackman and Kline?" she repeated.  
  
"Yes," Veronica smiled. "Do you know them?"  
  
Jason shot Phoebe a worried look. She took the glass of water in front of her and finished it in a oner, "My ex husband works for them," she said.  
  
"Oh," Veronica's smile disappeared. "I am sorry."  
  
"That's OK," Phoebe plastered on her face her most cheerful smile. "So do you know the name of the person who left. I might know him or her and let you know if they were any good."  
  
"Yes," Veronica replied obviously relieved that her brother's girlfriend seemed not too bothered by the mention of her former husband's firm. "It's a guy called Cole Turner. He apparently worked there for about a year. He's moving to a different job."  
  
This time Phoebe blanched. Her gut feeling was true. The moment Veronica mentioned Carter, Jackman and Kline, she knew that Cole's name would come up. She told herself she was paranoid but it did not mean she was wrong. The young lawyer noticed how her brother and his girlfriend stiffened. A crazy thought came to her head. "Oh God," she gasped. "He isn't your ex, is he?"  
  
Phoebe tried to regain her composure and managed a wan smile. "Yes, he is. Don't worry," she tried to make her voice sound reassuring, "me and Cole has been separated for a while," she smiled again, this time a bit more convincing and took a zip of her wine. She had to find out everything Veronica knew about Cole's new job but without making Jason suspicious. "It's good that Cole is moving on with his life. Did you say he's moving to another city?"  
  
"No," Veronica shot her brother apologetic look. "From what I understood, he's received a big inheritance recently and I mean a really big one, hundreds of millions. Part of it is a significant stake in the large investment firm and he's moving to head their legal division."  
  
"Which investment firm is it?" Jason perked up always curious to know the latest gossips in the investment world.  
  
"DLM investments," Veronica replied. "Carter was swelling in pride when he was talking about Turner taking his new position. He's hoping that they would get a lot of contracts out of this. It's always good to have a friendly face in a big investment firm."  
  
Jason nodded in agreement and Phoebe was thinking feverishly about an excuse she could invent to go home and talk to Piper and Paige. Cole leaving Carter, Jackman and Kline and receiving a large inheritance was an important development, important in a magical way. The middle Halliwell flashed Jason a quick smile, he smiled back his eyes asking her if she was okay. She gave him a reassuring look and turned to Veronica. "So do you think you have a chance of getting this position?"  
  
"I think I do," Veronica smiled. "They want somebody young and ambitious and with experience in doing big investment deals. And I was specializing in New York in investments and with good results. So hopefully that would be enough."  
  
Phoebe nodded in agreement, her thoughts far away. She gently massaged her temples, "I think I am getting a headache. It's been a very long day," she shot Jason an apologetic look. "I think I am going to take a taxi home, take an early night."  
  
"Are you okay?" Jason asked concerned.  
  
"Yes, I am fine, just have a headache."  
  
"I'll take you home," Jason got up.  
  
"No," Phoebe shook her head. "I'll be fine. You guys have a lot to catch up on. I don't want to spoil your evening." She turned to Veronica, "It was really nice to meet you. I hope that next time we'll be able to talk longer." She flashed Jason a last smile and headed to the door.  
  
Brother and sister were left alone.  
  
"I am sorry I spoiled your evening," Veronica put her hand on Jason's. "I did not know about Phoebe's divorce. It must have been quite bad?"  
  
"Yes," Jason sighed. "I don't know the details. Phoebe does not like talking about it. But I got the idea that she had a tough time before they got separated and then had problems convincing him to give her divorce. She is trying to move on really hard."  
  
"What do you know about people? From what I heard today, this Turner was a very good lawyer, apparently really successful in Court. And now he'll be working for DLM investment. They are considered to be "gold quality money."  
  
"I know," Jason sighed again. "I did not want to say when Phoebe was here but I was working on an investment deal with them. But I guess now it's out of the window. Turner is going to burry it."  
  
Veronica gave his hand a sympathetic squeeze. "Well, may be not. He's a professional and besides he won't be the only one taking the decision."  
  
Brother and sister continued to discuss Jason's deal. In the meantime Phoebe arrived to Halliwell manor, "Piper, Paige?" she shouted damping her purse on the hallway table.  
  
"In the living room," the youngest witch called out.  
  
Phoebe found Piper and Leo curled together on the couch and Paige with a big plate of chips on her lap, all watching a horror film.  
  
"You are early," Piper gave Phoebe a questioning look. "Is everything okay?"  
  
"No," Phoebe plumped in the chair. "I learnt that Cole has recently received a very large inheritance, millions and millions type. He's left Carter, Jackman and Kline and has moved to head the legal division of the very successful investment firm." The rest of the family stared at her, "Jason's sister is applying for Cole's position at his former law firm so she's told me that he left and everything else."  
  
"How can Cole get inheritance?" Paige voiced the question, which was on everybody's mind.  
  
"Exactly my point," Phoebe grabbed the remote control and switched off the TV. "Cole does not have any living relatives at least not human ones. So it's either from someone from his mother's side, which means that it's demonic money or he has manipulated some mortal to leave him the money."  
  
"Does Cole have any demonic relatives alive?" Paige asked looking from Leo to Phoebe.  
  
The latter shook her head and whitelighter shrugged his shoulders, "Not that I know off. Is there anything about his relatives in the BoS?"  
  
"No," Phoebe said firmly, "I know Belthazor's page by heart. It does not say anything. Cole only ever spoke about his mother. But she died about 30 years ago."  
  
"Well, I will check it with the Elders tomorrow morning. See what they know." Leo offered. "But if it's true that Cole just manipulated some innocent then what are we going to do about it?"  
  
"I don't know," Piper said thoughtfully. "It's not that we understand anything in finance. And we can't really vanquish Cole, we don't know how!"  
  
"Well," Phoebe suggested, "we can expose him as a swindler. Find the real heirs. If he used his magic to manipulate somebody to leave him the inheritance, we probably can use the reverse spell to overturn it."  
  
"This is strange," Paige murmured. "I never thought Cole was after money. He never seemed bothered by them."  
  
"May be it's not money he's after." Leo suggested. "I will check with the Elders about this investment firm DLM. May be it's run by demons. It won't be the first time."  
  
"We should also speak to Darryl," Paige suggested. "May be he knows this firm as well. Plus he might be able to find out from whom Cole inherited the money."  
  
"Good idea, Paige," Phoebe smiled at her sister. "You see," she gave her family a triumphant look, "I was right, Cole is up to something. And we have to stop him." She headed upstairs leaving the rest starring after her. When she was out of sight Leo and two sisters exchanged worried glances.  
  
"Here it comes again," Paige murmured, "You know, Phoebe can be pretty scary when she's on her anti Cole mission".  
  
*******  
  
Sunday morning found Nicole and Cole on the door steps of his mother's house. Half demon was carrying a flower composition, which incorporated candles they needed for the ceremony. Nicole carried a cake, the whole purpose of which was to prompt Mrs Raynolds to serve tea allowing to slip a potion into her cup. When Elizabeth opened the door, she looked even more pale and tired than before.  
  
"Sorry to bother you on a Sunday, Mrs Raynolds," Nicole blurted out the lie she prepared. "I hope we are not interrupting anything important."  
  
"No, not at all," the older woman gave Nicole a small smile. "What brings you here on a weekend? I thought local councils had a day off."  
  
"They do," Cole answered, "but the report, we came to see you about the other day, is due tomorrow morning and we have found out that one of our assistants forgot to mail you your statement for signing. So we thought we'd come round and may be you'll be kind enough to read it and sign?"  
  
"And we brought you some cake and flowers just to say sorry for intruding on your weekend," Nicole handed Elizabeth the cake.  
  
"Oh, you should not have bothered," Elizabeth answered, "please come in." She ushered them inside and immediately started preparing tea. Nicole volunteered to help, which gave Cole a chance to settle the bouquet on the small side table and light up the candles by throwing small fire sparks at the tips.  
  
When they were settled around the coffee table Nicole gave Cole a small nudge indicating that she successfully slipped the potion into Elizabeth's mug. While drinking coffee young Lugels continued a small talk but when Elizabeth's mug became almost empty half demon opened his briefcase and pulled some papers out.  
  
"Here is your statement Mrs Raynolds. Please read it and pay special attention to the authorization statement at the end. I would actually ask you to read it aloud since it states how we can use this information. And then we can proceed with the signing."  
  
Elizabeth who was looking at Cole with mesmerized eyes since he came in nodded and preceded reading first her own statement and then read aloud the authorization statement. She frowned a little since it was nothing like a usual authorisation statement. Cole and Nicole kept the first standard phrase and substituted the rest with the spell for power's transfer which should have made it easier for them to channel new powers into Elizabeth body. While she was reading Cole concentrated on unblocking his mother's memory. He easily found a massive memory block which Raynor created. But in spite of all his efforts he could not break it. Half demon carefully increased the pressure but with no success.  
  
"I can't break it," he sent the telepathic message to Nicole.  
  
The latter gave him a concerned look, "May be we should do it together by amplifying our powers."  
  
"No," Cole shot back. "It will destroy her. Together we're too powerful."  
  
Nicole thought for a second, "Give me your hand," she asked.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Just trust me, try to tap into my powers, the way you did when I had the contents of my hotel room flying everywhere. This way you are not limited to only your powers and can increase the pressure little by little." Half demon held her hand and immediately felt a link between them. He slowly intensified the pressure on the memory block and finally managed to break it. Elizabeth gasped, her eyes flew open and looked wildly around.  
  
"Now," Cole yelled. Nicole broke the contact with his hand and chanted a spell summoning the powers. The dark cloud formed in front of her and then Cole motioned it towards his mother. Elizabeth body started to tremble and she quickly shifted into the demonic form, which to Nicole looked like female version of Belthazor. Then she shifted back into her human form, which now looked very different from the woman who twenty minutes ago opened the door for them. Her transformations lasted for several second and then everything stopped and she remained in her demonic shape. She looked around her eyes focusing on Cole and said in a low growling voice.  
  
"Belthazor!" She shifted into human shape and gave Cole a hug. "I almost lost hope." She pushed him on arms length allowing herself a full view of his face. "It's so nice to see you again, Belthazor." Her human voice was low and husky. And Cole was glad to finally recognize his mother in this gorgeous woman with black sparkly eyes and mischievous smile.  
  
"It's nice to see you too, Mother," he said smiling.  
  
"It took you a long time to find me," she said admiring him.  
  
"I thought you were dead," half demon sounded apologetically. "Raynor told me you were killed by two witches and I only found out a few days ago that you were alive."  
  
When he mentioned Raynor's name, Elizabeth's face paled with rage. "This bastard will not live to see another day," she stated her voice was full of hatred. "I will not be calm till I am a widow again."  
  
"You already are," Cole said softly. "Raynor has been dead for the last 2.5 years," he paused, "from my hand."  
  
Elizabeth' eyes expressed surprise, "But you said you did not know about me."  
  
"I did not," Cole confirmed. He paused trying to find the right words and then continued. "We had a disagreement on a different matter." Black eyes stared at him with penetrating directness but half demon' face stayed unreadable. Nicole had to admit that they were definitely mother and son and she felt a little out of place on this strange reunion.  
  
"Well, I am glad that he is gone," the older woman remarked coolly, "though I would prefer if it was me who killed him. But I suppose I should be content that it was you, my son, who did it." She lifted her hand to touch Cole's cheek, her face softening. Then she turned around and looked at Nicole.  
  
"And who is this?" she asked.  
  
Nicole was about to answer when Cole beat her to it, "This is my partner, Nicole Berg."  
  
"Is she also a member of the Brotherhood?" Elizabeth asked. Her dark eyes were swirling into Nicole's face and the latter had to work really hard on maintaining her cool façade.  
  
"No," she answered, "I am not a member of the Brotherhood."  
  
"Oh," Elizabeth uttered, "so who are you then?" her eyes still bored into young woman's face. Nicole did not know whether or not Cole was planning to tell his mother about the whole Lugel thing so she decided to leave this out of her answer.  
  
"I am quarter demon quarter darklighter and half mortal."  
  
"Oh," Elizabeth' eyes became even more intense. Nicole felt very uncomfortable under such close scrutiny. Thankfully Cole has decided to come to her rescue.  
  
"Mother," he said, "may be we should discuss what you want to do next."  
  
Elizabeth turned to her son and smiled. "I suppose you're right. I guess we should go back to the Underworld. I had enough of mortal realm and of this horrible house. Are you still staying in your apartment or have you moved into mine?"  
  
"Eh," for a second Cole did not know what to say, "I am not staying in the Underworld any more. I live in San Francisco in the mortal realm."  
  
The older woman's face became stern. "You live in the mortal realm?" she repeated staring at Cole's face. "And can you tell me why, Belthazor?" he voice now had a distinct strict motherly tone.  
  
In other circumstances Nicole would have found the situation extremely amusing. Cole Turner successful lawyer by day and an all powerful demon by night, confident and arrogant was getting the third degree from his mother and looked extremely uncomfortable under her stare. However, it was time past laughter. She knew Cole was nervous about his mother finding out the whole truth about his relationship with Phoebe, his betrayal of the Underworld and especially about Belthazor being gone.  
  
Half demon knew his mother well enough to realize that it was better to tell her the truth now than trying to come up with a lie. He cleared his throat. "A lot has changed in the Underworld over the last 30 years. It's a long story," he paused.  
  
Elizabeth waved her hand dismissively "I have time."  
  
"Fine," Cole gave up. "If you don't mind I'll do it telepathically. It will be easier."  
  
"Telepathy?" Elizabeth's brows shot up. "You were never any good at it, no matter how much I tried."  
  
"Well, I have acquired a few more powers in the past years," he remarked. Nicole noticed that Elizabeth's face clouded for a second but was quickly replaced by a blank expression.  
  
Half demon took a deep breath and then images of events unfolded in front of his mother and Nicole. The latter was impressed how Cole managed to summarize all the important events in the Underworld over the last 30 years. Belthazor was more of a witness there than the main character. Then she saw the anger of the Source when the Charmed Ones became active, Cole receiving a new assignment from the Triad, going after the Charmed Ones, failing to kill them on so many occasions, killing the Triad, being chased by the bounty hunters, loosing Belthazor to the vindictive woman, becoming the Source, being vanquished by the Charmed Ones and ending up in the Wasteland. It was the true narrative of what happened with one exception. Cole left out the main cause of all the events, his love for Phoebe. The visions stopped abruptly and Cole heaved a sigh. Did his mother buy it? He knew that he would have to tell her the truth about Phoebe at some point but he was not ready to do it yet. He will tell her later when they were alone. There was no need for Nicole to see the whole thing again.  
  
He looked at Elizabeth. She was standing with her back to him looking into the back garden. When she was sure that she had enough control over her feelings she turned to face her son. "So what happened next?" she asked. "How did you escape the Wasteland?"  
  
"I was contacted by Lugels while being there," Cole replied feeling relieved that his mother did not ask him something else. "They offered me new powers and the chance to return from the Wasteland if I work for them. And I agreed."  
  
"Oh," Elizabeth's face had a strange expression on it. "And I suppose you," she turned to Nicole, "work for them as well."  
  
"Yes," young Lugel nodded, "Cole and I joined in the same time and Lugels put us in one team."  
  
Elizabeth looked like she did not need to hear Nicole's answer. She was again looking in the garden, her thoughts far away. The living room fell into uneasy silence. Nicole wished that she was somewhere far away. She was almost ready to tell Cole that she would see him later when Elizabeth broke the silence.  
  
"Well, it's a lot of information to receive in one morning, so I think I will need a bit of time to think it all through. Do you have a place I can stay in?" she asked looking at Cole.  
  
"You can stay with me in San Francisco if you want," Cole answered. The reaction of his mother worried him. She was not easy to fool and he was all but convinced that there was something she was not telling him.  
  
"That'd be great." Elizabeth smiled coolly.  
  
Nicole could sense half demon's uneasiness and it was completely in line with her own feelings of discomfort. This was way too easy and Nicole could swear that Cole's mother was not completely satisfied with his explanations and that she was hiding something herself.  
  
Cole knew perfectly well that unless his mother decided that it was time to talk there was no way he could find out what was on her mind without using his telepathic powers. And he did not really fancy reading his mother's thoughts. He also had to talk to Nicole and it was much more urgent than he thought this morning. He decided that the best thing would be to shimmer to his Penthouse. "Than, that settled," he gave his mother a bright smile. "Let's go."  
  
Nicole was about to say something, but Cole took her hand in his and the next moment they were shimmering to the Penthouse. When they arrived half demon gave Elizabeth a short tour and said, "I am sure that you would like to change. There are some outfits I picked for you in the guest bedroom and if you'd like to freshen up the bathroom is first door on your right." The older woman nodded. She was glad to be on her own for a while. That would allow her to think things over.  
  
When she left the living room Cole and Nicole exchanged glances and the latter asked, "So how do you think this went?"  
  
Cole shrugged his shoulders, "Well, regarding restoring my mother's powers and memory, I think it went well, with regard to everything else we'll find out soon enough. I'll try talking to her tonight."  
  
Nicole nodded and said in a too bright tone. "Well, I guess I'll be going then. You will need some privacy for this conversation."  
  
"Is that what you decided?" half demon asked curtly, "I was hoping that you had changed your mind after talking to Celina and Vladimir."  
  
Nicole could feel her cheeks getting hot. He was absolutely right. Since she so bluntly refused to move into Cole's Penthouse the other day, she's done a lot of thinking. And now she regretted her outburst. Celina, Vladimir and Cole were right, it was safer for her to stay in the Penthouse, there was a lot at stake at the moment. She remembered what Cole told her about powers coming with a lot of responsibility. She accepted her destiny as a Chosen one, accepted on her own free will. She took an obligation to fulfil this destiny and she had to do everything possible to ensure that she Chosen Two succeeded. She could not back out now just because she wanted to stay away from Cole. Plus her conversation with Celina led Nicole to think about that decision of hers. She still felt that staying away from Cole would allow her to keep some piece of mind. At the same time she had a piece of mind for the last five years and it did not seem to make her happy. Nicole told herself not to think about it. It could lead her into the area she did not want to enter. Besides looking at the amount of work they had to carry out they would probably only come to the Penthouse to sleep and did not really matter whether they slept 10 meters apart or a 100 miles. Nicole snapped out of her thoughts.  
  
"I did," she said trying really hard to keep her voice calm and steady, "but since your mother is staying with you there is no point really."  
  
"Why not?" Cole raised his eyebrows. "She'll be only staying here for a few days. She never liked staying in the Upperworld. She might need a couple of days to check up on the situation in the underworld. But she would move there very soon."  
  
"Why does not she like staying in the Upperworld?" Nicole could not suppress her curiosity.  
  
"Don't know," Cole replied curtly. "She never bothered to explain and I never asked."  
  
The tone of his voice made it obvious for young woman that it was better to refrain from further questions. "But it still might be very inconvenient for you if I stay here as well? And plus what are we going to tell your mother regarding why I am staying here. Because in all honesty I am not very comfortable with telling her the truth."  
  
"And neither am I." Cole nodded, "But that's why there is even more reasons for you to stay. Look, I am convinced my mother suspects something or even may be knows something. The way she behaved today was way out from what I'd expected. And that makes me nervous. I don't like things I can't understand. My mother is a very powerful and a very sneaky demon. And she's been alive way longer than me. So I have no idea what she knows about Lugels and their plans. Also though I am pretty sure she'll never kill me, I doubt that this courtesy would extend to anybody else. So I think it would be safer if you stay here for now."  
  
Half demon sounded truly concerned and his words were in complete unison with Nicole's own gut feeling. And this feeling told her that Elizabeth could be very dangerous and that she would have no problem killing anybody whom she considered a threat to herself or her precious son. "But where am I going to stay and what are we going to tell your mother?" Nicole asked again.  
  
"You'll stay with me and we'll tell my mother the same thing that we'd made the Charmed Ones believe in. That you're my live-in girlfriend."  
  
Nicole stared at him in disbelief, "You're kidding, right?"  
  
Cole rolled his eyes, "Look, I don't want to brag but my bed is massive. You can put 6 people there and none of them will even notice that there is somebody else there. Plus if you insist we can create some sort of a wall between us. And don't worry I'll be a perfect gentlemen."  
  
"I am not worried," Nicole snarled. "But don't you think we are taking this whole safety issue a bit far. First we had to share a house, now we have to share a bed, what next?" The moment these words left her mouth Nicole would have given anything to take them back. One of Cole's eyebrows shot up and his mouth stretched into a wry smile.  
  
"Well, I don't know what's going to be next but I'll be delighted to find out," he drawled, his smile becoming teasing.  
  
"Oh, you are such a..." Nicole paused trying to find a right word and when none came to mind she threw a low voltage energy ball, which disintegrated before it even reached him.  
  
"I am sorry for my unspeakable behaviour," Cole retorted and quickly sobering continued. "Look it's only for a couple of days and plus it will help me as well. I still have to tell my mother about my failed marriage to a witch, which in her eyes would be the lowest thing anybody can do. And if I can tell her that I already have a relationship with somebody of demonic origin it would hopefully soften her a bit and make my life a lot easier."  
  
"You're such a woos," Nicole smiled shaking her head.  
  
**********  
  
On the other side of town Darryl Morris strode into the Halliwells' manor followed by Phoebe. He found the rest of the family gathered in the living room eager to hear what Darryl has found out about DLM Investments and Cole's inheritance.  
  
Paige served Darryl some coffee and Phoebe who was the most anxious to hear the news asked, "So did you manage to find anything?"  
  
The policemen took a zip of his coffee and nodded," Yes, but it's not much." He opened his notebook. "DLM Investment has been in existence for over 50 years. It's owned by several big corporations and invests in anything starting from media holdings to pharmaceuticals. They have a reputation of being gold quality money. No problems with customs, tax office or police. None of their investments went into anything remotely doggy. So all in all they are squeaky clean and police has nothing on them."  
  
"What about Cole's inheritance?" Piper asked.  
  
"Not much information either," Darryl gave the older Charmed One apologetic look. "Cole has inherited 7.6% in BalFor Holdings. The stock transfer forms were signed last week. The previous owner was William Schwarzlight and from what I understand Turner inherited his shares from him. William Schwarzlight has passed away about 3 weeks ago. He did not have any leaving relatives except his niece Nicole Berg, the daughter of his brother. The latter died 25 years ago. William Schwarzlight has been a guardian of his brother's fortune. Now it has been passed to Miss Berg. She also inherited 7.6% of BalFor Holdings. Her stock transfer forms were signed on the same day as Turner's. Miss Berg resided until recently in the UK but after her uncle's death has moved to San Francisco. I have here William Schwarzlight address, she will probably be staying there."  
  
"Did you manage to look at the will?" Paige asked.  
  
"No," Darryl shook his head. "The contents of the will are confidential and in order to get a warrant I need evidence and I don't have any."  
  
"Well, how about that this Schwarzlight left millions of dollars to a guy he has no connections to? Isn't this a good enough reason?" Phoebe asked.  
  
Darryl gave her a sympathetic look, "Phoebe, I understand what you are getting at. But it's up to the relatives or the corporation to raise the alarm. Neither BalFor Holdings, nor Nicole Berg expressed any concern. I can't go round spreading rumours, I'll lose my badge and Turner can easily take me to court for slander and since I don't have even a sign of evidence, he'll probably win."  
  
"We understand, Darryl," Piper decided that it was time to interfere. "And we are really grateful for your help and would not want you to get into any troubles because of us."  
  
Darryl nodded gratefully and continued. "By the way I checked the reasons for Schwarzlight's death. Apparently he died of a heart failure in his sleep. Because he lived on his own the police carried out an investigation. No suspicious factors were found."  
  
"Everything here is suspicious," Phoebe could not contain her irritation anymore. "An old man dies of a heart failure and leaves his entire fortune to Cole Turner. Come on, for Cole it's five minutes job to arrange all this."  
  
"Yes, honey," Piper said, "but we know what Cole is capable of and police does not. And we can't exactly tell them."  
  
"But we ought to do something," Phoebe exclaimed.  
  
"We will," the older Charmed One said. She turned to her husband. "What did the Elders say about this?"  
  
The whitelighter shrugged his shoulders. "Not much. They say that DLM invests into many companies and has many investors. Some of them might be demonic but it's normal for any large investment firm. The Elders don't have a firm on their radar. With regard to Cole's inheritance they don't know anything at all."  
  
"How useful," Paige snorted.  
  
"Why don't you try to talk to Cole?" Darryl suggested. "He might tell you something. Criminals sometimes like to talk especially when they are convinced of their safety, he might want to boast especially in front of Phoebe."  
  
Piper gave Darryl unhappy look. "We can't find him. Phoebe and Paige went to his Penthouse but he's apparently on holidays for 2 weeks."  
  
"Well, then may be you should talk to Nicole Berg," Darryl continued. "She has the right to raise concern over her uncle's death and then we'll be able to properly investigate it."  
  
"May be you should talk to her," Phoebe suggested.  
  
"I can't," Darryl heaved an impatient sigh. "I don't have evidence. And if she does not believe me she would probably tell Turner about it."  
  
"But the same is true for us," Phoebe retorted. "She will be even less likely to believe us, considering that I am his ex wife. Whereas you are a police officer."  
  
"Exactly, so I have a badge to lose," he took a deep breath and continued calmer. "Do you realise that Cole now is one of the richest people in town. Can you imagine what he can do? One phone call and I will not get a promotion, ever."  
  
"Darryl is right," Leo said. "This is not his type of trouble, it's ours. Especially if Cole started killing people for money, he can easily kill Darryl to prevent exposure, whereas we can at least defend ourselves."  
  
"Fine," Phoebe grumbled. "We'll go ourselves and try to talk to Nicole Berg."  
  
Darryl heaved sigh of relief and handed her a note with the address and his business card. "Let me know how you get on and if she wants to press charges give her my business card." 


	12. Chapter 12

Here goes another chapter. Please review. Thank you.  
  
Chapter 12  
  
Nicole parked the Porsche in front of her uncle's house, her house now, she reminded herself. Her and Cole agreed that it would be better if he talked to his mother on his own and Nicole decided to use this time for shopping and collecting some stuff from her uncle's house. The shops in San Francisco were great, much better than in the UK and now the back seat of the Porsche was full with plastic bags. Nicole poured herself a glass of water and stretched her legs. Her thoughts trailed of to Cole. How was his conversation with Elizabeth going? The sound of the door bell snapped her up from her thoughts. She opened the door and froze at the sight of her visitors.  
  
Phoebe stared at the tall blond woman standing in the doorway. It could not be happening. Next to her Paige uttered in disbelief, "You..."  
  
Nicole was the first to regain her composure, "I believe you are Halliwell sisters," she said coolly, "What brings you to my doorsteps?"  
  
Piper who at first did not understand the silent scene before her, exclaimed, "You've met."  
  
"You can hardly call it a meeting," Paige muttered.  
  
"You're Piper, right?" Nicole asked the older Charmed One. "Me and your sisters came across each other some time ago in Cole Turner's apartment."  
  
Realization hit Piper. She shot a look at Phoebe who still seemed to be in shock. "Look, ladies," Nicole continued. "I don't know about you but I have things to do so can you please tell me what exactly has brought you here?"  
  
"We came to talk about your uncle," Paige blurted out.  
  
"You knew my uncle?" Nicole's eyes grew wide in surprise.  
  
"We did not exactly knew him," Piper corrected her sister, "but we would like to talk to you about the circumstances surrounding your uncle's death."  
  
Nicole's alarm bells went off. What could the Charmed Ones know about her uncle? She shifted her gaze from one sister to another, "Well, in that case you better come in," she offered evenly and led the Charmed sisters into the living room.  
  
Phoebe was trying to regain her composure. She could not believe that Nicole Berg, the woman whom they came to warn was the same woman whom Cole started dating a week after their divorce.  
  
"So," Nicole sat in the chair and looked at the sisters. Paige looked nervous, Piper apprehensive and Phoebe plainly dumbstruck. "What do you want to talk to me about?"  
  
Piper was about to speak up but Phoebe bit her to it. "We came to talk to you about your uncle's death and his will, which left a very significant inheritance to Cole Turner." The middle Charmed One attentively observed any changes in Nicole's face, but the latter's expression remained unreadable.  
  
"I don't see how it concerns you," Nicole remarked calmly.  
  
"Miss Berg," the older Charmed One tried to sound friendly. "We are here as your friends and we don't mean to interfere in your personal affairs. It's just we had a lot of dealings with Cole Turner and let's just say that the experiences were not very nice. So we only wanted to offer our help."  
  
"I appreciate your efforts," Nicole replied, "but I don't understand why would I need your help?"  
  
"Because Cole Turner is dangerous, very dangerous," Paige blurted out. "Haven't you wondered why your uncle left millions of dollars not to you, but to a man, who was neither a relative nor a close friend?"  
  
Nicole's face became very distant and she said in a cold voice, "And how exactly do you know all these details?"  
  
Paige faltered and Piper tried to heal the damage the blunt tongue of her youngest sister had caused. "We found out by accident. We were keeping an eye on Cole and came across your uncle's name. We know that you're new in town and it is a tough period in your life and we just wanted to warn you against potential danger."  
  
Nicole inwardly relaxed a little. It was obvious that the Charmed Ones did not know anything about Lugels and were only concerned that Cole received an inheritance from her uncle. "Well, it's very nice of you," she said slowly. "But I don't think that Cole will be a danger to me."  
  
Phoebe who was so far quiet decided that it was time to be more direct. "Look," she said leaning forward and fixing Nicole with a hard stare, "We came here trying to save you from making the biggest mistake of your life. And yes, I am talking from my own experience. I brought Cole into my family 3 years ago and if I had been granted one wish, it would be to never have met him. I know that right now he seems to you as the best man that ever lived but try to look pass his good looks and smart wit. He's dangerous. He already manipulated your uncle into leaving him a fortune. And I will not be surprised if Cole is responsible for your uncle's death. It's only a matter of time before he'd do the same to you."  
  
Nicole had enough of this. She could not belief what she was hearing. The woman who claimed she wanted her ex-husband to move on with his life was trying to destroy his chances of ever achieving that. Nicole perfectly realized that if she had not by accident read Cole's memories the other day she would now be very concerned about Halliwell's revelations. They accused him of the gravest crimes without even bothering to get any proof. Nicole glared at Phoebe and said trying to keep her voice calm. "Do you have any proof that Cole has committed murder and fraud or is it just an outburst of a bitter ex wife?"  
  
Phoebe's face went red and Paige exclaimed in outrage. "Don't you dare insult my sister like that! She's merely trying to protect your ass."  
  
"By doing what? Accusing a friend of my late uncle of murdering him and stealing his fortune?" Nicole cried out.  
  
"But what if it's true?" Piper exclaimed trying to steer conversation away from the personal insults. "I think that circumstances are suspicious enough. You can at least check why your uncle left his fortune to a man wholly unrelated to your family."  
  
Nicole looked at Piper with a hint of respect. Between her sisters the eldest Halliwell at least had a working brain. Young Lugel got up from her chair and said coldly, "Trust me, Cole Turner has all the rights to inherit my uncle's fortune."  
  
"How do you know?" Paige cried out.  
  
"I know," Nicole stated firmly, trying really hard to stay polite. "I thank you for your warning," she continued with a hint of sarcasm, "and now if you don't mind I have few things to do."  
  
This was the last drop for Phoebe. This strong headed bitch behaved like she was the Queen of England. "Fine," she snapped. "We'll go. I hope that when he turns your life into a living hell, you still will be able to ask us for help. At least Cole truly loved me. And I am sorry to tell you this, but his feelings for you are very far from that."  
  
Nicole's face turned pale and the first time in her life she wanted to use one of her most lethal powers on this woman. "Get out of my house," she said, her eyes blazing green fire. The Charmed Ones hurried to the door and just as they reached it they heard steely voice behind them. "Though you don't deserve it I will give you a word of warning. If I ever hear that you are trying to insinuate that my uncle was murdered or his will was falsified I will personally take you to court for slander and emotional harassment."  
  
******  
  
After two hours of soaking in the bath, giving herself a pedicure and than meticulously drying her hair Elizabeth managed to digest all the information she received earlier and organise her own thoughts enough to face her son and his new partner. She found Cole alone in the kitchen cooking dinner.  
  
"All mighty Belthazor in an apron?" she asked cocking her eyebrow. "Oh, sorry," she corrected herself, "all mighty Cole Turner in an apron."  
  
"Well, you'll be surprised how many times all mighty Belthazor depended on this skill of Cole Turner," the half demon retorted good naturally. "During the Upperworld missions, you either have to eat in restaurants all the time, which can really ruin your health or have to cook yourself."  
  
"Or you could get a wife for yourself," Elizabeth remarked sitting down in one of the high chairs.  
  
Cole perked up knowing his mother's fondness of ambiguous questions. So he decided to stick to the light tone. "This is too much work, I prefer cooking."  
  
Elizabeth' lips smiled but her eyes were examining her son's face with a piercing attention. But Cole was her equal in this game of words and self control. His face was completely unreadable. The demoness understood that she was not going to make Cole lose his cool and felt very proud of her son. So she decided to play openly.  
  
"I've been thinking about what you told me this morning. And I have to admit I felt quite surprised that you did not manage to destroy the Charmed Ones. I always thought that three witches even that powerful would not stop you."  
  
Half demon seriously contemplated the dilemma he faced. On one hand he could keep concealing the truth knowing full well that she would find it out sooner or later. Or he could tell her the whole story now and face the fireworks. No matter how much Cole wanted to bail out he decided that the second option was the one to go with. He cleared his throat, "Well, as a matter of fact, they are the most powerful witches ever existed. But you're right, I did not just fail," he paused and then decided to jump into the deep end. "I fell in love with one of the Charmed Ones, Phoebe. So I could not kill them and ended up betraying the Source and working with the Charmed Ones for nearly 2 years. Later on I accepted the Hollow to save them and then the Source's spirit took possession of me. While being the Source I even married Phoebe but it did not end well. She chose her sisters over me and vanquished the Source and myself alongside him. That's how I ended up in the Wasteland. I know very little of what happened next. Phoebe was not exactly forthcoming after I got back. She told me that she lost our baby, though apparently it was really the Source's child, at first the Seer used the spell to transfer the baby into her own body in order to become the new Source. But she could not cope with so much power and self destructed during the coronation ceremony together with the baby and the Source's council. When I got back from the Wasteland I tried to make a new start with Phoebe but she did not want to take me back and we got divorced about a month ago." During his speech Cole kept avoiding looking at Elizabeth. When he finally faced her, half demon was surprised to see her dark eyes sparkling in a way that looked a lot like unshed tears. Her lips were trembling as she tried to regain her composure.  
  
"Mother," half demon made a few steps towards her, "are you okay?"  
  
Elizabeth nodded her head, not trusting her voice. After a few minutes during which Cole observed his mother with concern, she managed to gain enough control of her voice, "I always hoped that you would not have to experience mortal love. But I guess taking my own history into account there was little chance of that. Especially since you always had your mortal half to fight. It was just a matter of time."  
  
Cole was surprised by her reaction. He expected Elizabeth to go ballistic, accusing him of being weak. In stead she almost sounded guilty. "You are not mad at me?" he asked carefully.  
  
"What right do I have to be mad at you?" she said with a hint of self bitterness in her tone, "You were creation of my own mistake. And you repeated my own life."  
  
"You followed the Source's orders," Cole said quietly. "I, on the other hand, betrayed him. Plus you never were in love with a witch."  
  
Elizabeth gave him a bitter-sweet smile, her eyes full of such motherly love, he has not seen since she first brought him to the underworld. "I did betray the Source, he just never found out." Elizabeth saw a confused expression on her son's face and continued. "What started as an assignment turned into something much more serious. I fell in love with your father. I did not want to return to the Underworld. So I planned to strip my and your powers. Then we would be out of the Source's radar and he would lose interest in us. But the night I was planning to perform the ritual things went wrong. You know that we are related to demons living in the Signa plain? They do not follow the orders of the Source. I paid their high priest to perform the ritual. So I just shimmered back into the house and found myself standing face to face with your father. He looked at me horrified. I had no choice but to tell him the truth. From the moment I mentioned that I was a demon, he looked at me terrified. I told him that it did not change how I felt about him and that I was going to strip my powers so we could have a normal family. But he did not want to listen. He told me to get out of his house and never come back. Then he stormed out. I did not know what to do. I decided that I could not strip my powers as yet. So I packed some of my clothes and some of yours but I did not want to leave. Benjamin never stayed angry for long. So I took you for a walk. When I got back your father was home. He sent you upstairs with the nanny and started screaming at me. He told me that I had to get out immediately and that I could not even dare to come close to you and he'd do anything possible for you to grow up normal and that he would tell you that I died. Then he left. He spoke with such contempt. I could not believe that this was the man for whom I was ready to betray the Source, to give up my powers and to change my life forever. I went after him but he already left with you. This made me realize that we did not have a future together. He would never be able to accept me and you for what we were. I traced you two down. It was not a problem since you were always on my radar. And you know the rest. I took you to the Underworld. I vowed never to look back and never try to be someone else except what I was, a demon." Elizabeth forced a smile and looked up at her son.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" Cole asked trying to take in this incredible story.  
  
"Well, when you were young I was scared that the Source could find out. They used to do all this telepathy tests on young demons. And you weren't any good in mind blocks. I wanted to tell you later when you became a member of the Brotherhood and started to go on your Upperworld missions. I wanted to warn you about the dangers of mortal love but I could not bring myself to do it. Your humanity was buried deep enough and I did not want anything to disturb it. When you were little you used to have nightmares and were always calling for your father. I did not want to remind you about him."  
  
Cole nodded. He felt strange. He always thought that his mother killed his father following the orders of the Source. He sometimes thought that she was forced to do it and sometimes he thought she did it from her own inner evil. Even when he was little he never asked his mother about why she killed his father. He just knew that it was best not to mention it, ever. But he did miss his father and especially the life they had as a family. With time these memories became bleak but they never went away completely.  
  
"I am sorry, Belthazor," his mother said. "I probably should have told you. May be it would have helped you to avoid your mistake."  
  
Cole sighed. "I don't consider falling in love with Phoebe a mistake, mother. It showed me how life could be. I would not have missed it for the world."  
  
Elizabeth sighed, "Do you still love her?" she asked quietly.  
  
"How I feel does not matter," Cole shrugged his shoulder. "We do not have a future together. I suppose for me it would be better to always be in love with Phoebe. I learnt to live without her and I don't want to fall in love ever again. So the love for Phoebe is my safeguard for now."  
  
Elizabeth looked at him in surprise. "I thought you would not miss this feeling for the world?"  
  
Half demon gave his mother a wicked smile, "I would not, but once was enough. I am not a masochist."  
  
Elizabeth understood his sign that he wanted to change the subject. His humour did not fool her. She knew that Cole did not want to discuss his feeling further with her at the moment and part of her was relieved whereas another part was longing to hold him in her arms, take away his pain and worries. But she decided it was best to comply with his wishes. She still had another question to ask him. The answer to which would affect their immediate future. So she gave him a smile indicating that the topic was closed and said her voice all business.  
  
"By the way, I wanted to ask you. Do you know what Lugels are planning for me?"  
  
Half demon gave his mother a penetrating look. "Why do you think they are planning something for you?"  
  
"Come on, Belthazor," Elizabeth smiled coolly. "Why else would they tell you about me? They are not exactly a Charity "Family Reunited". It means that they needed me for something. And I would like to know straight away what is it? And what is your interest in the whole thing?"  
  
Cole could not suppress a chuckle. That was his mother, smart as a devil.  
  
"What's so funny?" she asked.  
  
"Nothing," he answered quickly. "It's just that I finally am convinced that our efforts this morning have paid off. You are really back to normal."  
  
Elizabeth gave him a wry smile, "Don't change the subject, Belthazor."  
  
"I was not trying to change the subject," he retorted good naturally. She gave him a sceptical look and Cole lifted his arms in defeat. "Fine, I give up," he said sobering. "I was approached by Lugels to help them with the very interesting and important task, to negotiate a peace deal between the good and the evil, which in reality is between Underworld and the Powers to Be. The reason is that both worlds have been so effective in killing each other, that magic itself faces extinction and the massive misbalance of powers. Lugels want to negotiate a peace treaty by channelling activities of the Underworld into business and of the witches into the charities etc. And in order to do that they need to find a new Source who would be able to rule the Underworld with the iron hand and channel its activities into business and mortals, which are not exactly innocents."  
  
"And they want you to become the new Source and me to help you?" Elizabeth finished for him.  
  
"No," Cole answered carefully eyeing his mother. "They want you to become the new Source and I will help you."  
  
"What?" Elizabeth stared at him in amazement. "They want me to become the new Source?! Why?"  
  
"Because you have what it takes. Come on, Mother, Raynor wanted to get rid of you because he was scared that you'd take over the Brotherhood and in time become a new Source and he wanted the throne for himself."  
  
"Belthazor, it was 30 years ago. You were the Source 6 months ago; it would be much easier for you. For God's sake, I am a woman. There was never a female Source."  
  
"Well, maybe it's time for one. The Seer almost became the new Source. And nobody was bothered that she was a woman."  
  
"Yes, but she had the Source's baby-boy inside her." Elizabeth cried out.  
  
"And you think that she was going to keep him alive after the coronation?" Cole asked his brows lifting suggestively.  
  
Elizabeth could not disagree with him. "But it still makes more sense for you to become the next Source."  
  
"Mother, I can't."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I have too many powers now and if I become the Source, it would create a massive imbalance of powers."  
  
Elizabeth ran out of arguments and had finally seriously contemplated Lugel's offer to become the new Source. It was overwhelming. In the past she sometimes thought about it. Especially after her and Belthazor worked together, when she saved him from the joint threat of witches and vampires covens. But after 30 years away from the Underworld it was a big decision to make. "I don't know," she finally said. "I have to think about it. I have not been in the Underworld for so long. And this is one of those choices, on which you can't go back."  
  
Cole nodded, "Of course," he said, "I understand that you need time to think. I just want you to know that Lugels will provide you with any support necessary. Myself and Nicole can help you with pretty much anything."  
  
Elizabeth smiled, "Oh, I am sure of that." She got up from her chair. "I am going to check my quarters in the Underworld."  
  
Half demon nodded, "Be careful, Underworld is at the moment in chaos."  
  
Elizabeth gave him a wry smile, "Don't forget with whom you're talking, Belthazor."  
  
"I would not dream of it," Cole returned her smile.  
  
"Good, I would not want to have to remind you about it," with these words she shimmered out. She reappeared in the underworld but only for a second. When she was sure that nobody was following her she shimmered again and reappeared in front of a small wooden hut. She knocked and waited. After a few moments the door opened and a pair of penetrating eyes stared at Elizabeth.  
  
"We need to talk," the demoness said firmly.  
  
"Yes, we do," said a deep voice. "Please come in."  
  
*******  
  
After his mother left Cole stayed in the kitchen staring at the window. This conversation went better than he thought. And he had a gut feeling that his mother was going to accept Lugel's offer. He looked at his watch. It was very late, Nicole was already supposed to be home. Suddenly a wave of emotions hit Cole, it was a mixture of anger and pain. At first he could not understand where it came from until he received a vision of Nicole standing in the hallway of her uncle's house with three Charmed One's in front of her. Half demon wasted no time. He disappeared from the Penthouse and immediately reappeared in a quiet lane in front of the Schwarzlight mansion. He arrived just in time to see the Halliwell's car leaving. Cole ran up to the porch and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He knocked again and when no one replied, Cole started to get worried.  
  
"Nicole," he shouted, "it's me, Cole, open up." Few minutes have passed, during which Cole seriously contemplated kicking out the door. Then he heard the footsteps, the door flew open and half demon was face to face with Nicole.  
  
"Cole," she said coldly, "what are you doing here? I thought you were talking to your mother".  
  
"I was," the half demon replied. "But I got a vision of you talking to the Halliwells. I was worried."  
  
Nicole smiled wryly, "You should not have. I was not going to use my powers on your precious Charmed Ones no matter how much I was tempted."  
  
Cole's eyes flared with anger. "I was not worried about them," he snapped. "I was worried about you. In my vision you looked upset."  
  
"Oh," Nicole did not know what to say. She stepped aside allowing Cole to enter the mansion. "Well, I was. The Charmed Ones told me that you have manipulated my uncle into leaving his fortune to you and that you also probably killed him. They also suggested that I would end up the same way if I kept my relationship with you. And when I was not responsive to their warning the conversation moved to personalities and I ended up threatening to sue them for emotional harassment if they continued spreading any rumours."  
  
Half demon could feel resentment and anger arousing in him. The Halliwells accused him of murder and fraud without a single shred of evidence. And, God knows, if Nicole had not learn all his inner thoughts a few days ago she would have probably believe them.  
  
As if she read his thought Nicole continued, "They started very friendly and convincing. If I did not know otherwise I would be very concerned. This made me worried. If they go round telling lies to people it could harm your reputation and DLM Investments."  
  
Cole cursed. For the numerous time during the last month he wished that the Charmed Ones would just leave him alone. But there was little chance of that happening. "We need to come up with a cover story in which they'll believe," he said.  
  
"That's a good idea," Nicole nodded. But she did not like the thought that came into her mind. It was indeed the easiest "explanation". Young woman took a deep breath, "I think I just thought about the perfect cover up story," she said trying to sound excited. "We can conjure the evidence that you're uncle Will's illegitimate son."  
  
"What?" Cole looked at her incredulously.  
  
"Well, then everybody will completely understand that he left everything to you and not to me."  
  
"No way," the words flew out of Cole's mouth with a speed of a bullet.  
  
"Why not?" Nicole asked, her insides trembling with relief.  
  
Cole knew that under no circumstance he would agree to pose as Nicole's close blood relative. But he could not tell her the real reason so he feverishly thought about excuse and was relieved when he realized that her suggestion would not work. "Because the Charmed Ones know that I was born more than a hundred years ago and since William Schwarzlight died only a month ago he would have to be a demon himself, which makes you demonic as well. We don't want to go down that road."  
  
Nicole nodded in agreement relieved that her idea could not work and slightly disappointed that there was such a logical reason for Cole to reject it. "In that case, I think we have two options," she said, "We either have to tell them the truth or threaten them enough to prevent them from spreading any rumours."  
  
"The first route is not possible. We can't expose the Lugels that much. And since you already started on the second route, we'll just stick to it. We should ask the Lugel Council for the permission to approach the Elders."  
  
"Agreed," Nicole smiled. 


	13. Chapter 13

Thanks very much for reviews. Here is another chapter. Hope you'll like it. Let me know.  
  
Chapter 13  
  
When Leo orbed into Halliwell manor he was greeted by three very grim and pissed off sisters.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing is wrong," Paige answered sarcastically, "It's just our innocent. At first she told us that we were interfering in her life, then she kicked us out of her house and at the end threatened to sue us for the emotional harassment."  
  
Leo shook his head in disbelief. "Why did she react like that? It's very strange," he said looking at his wife who was sitting on the sofa with the thoughtful expression on her face.  
  
"Well, it isn't if you take into account what Phoebe told her," she answered her husband.  
  
The middle Halliwell gave her sister an angry look. "Forgive me, Piper, but I just told her the truth, while you were going in circles around it I cut to the chase."  
  
Piper rolled her eyes in exasperation, "Come on Phoebe, you practically told her that Cole was using her as a rebound sex. It's not the way to make people listen to you. I was surprised that she did not slap you in the face. That what I would have done."  
  
"Well, it's the truth, isn't it? And it's better if she finds out now and not 3 months down the line when Cole damps her."  
  
"Even if it's true, we were there to make her believe us, not to insult her."  
  
Leo gave two sisters a confused stare, "What are you talking about?" he asked finally.  
  
"Our innocent - is the same blond, whom Cole's been dating." Paige piped in. "All the time we were in this house I expected Cole to show up. But thank God, she was on her own. But there is no doubt she'll tell him about our visit."  
  
Leo shook his head again, this time in frustration. "Can you go back and talk to her again?"  
  
"Oh, no," Paige said. "I don't think she'll open the door to us."  
  
Whitelighter plopped on the couch. He was annoyed with Phoebe. Her hatred to Cole was spreading on anybody who was remotely connected to him. "I will talk to the Elders," he finally said. "May be they will authorise us to tell her the truth about Cole."  
  
"She won't listen," Phoebe remarked sarcastically.  
  
"You have better ideas?" whitelighter retorted. No answer followed his question.  
  
"Well, I see that's settled." Piper summarized slowly.  
  
*******  
  
"Why?" Nicole cried out, "Why are you telling me this now? Why not 12 months ago when we first met. If you loved her all this time why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"I am so sorry Nicole. I know there is no excuse to my behaviour. I really tried to fall in love with you but I couldn't. You are a great person and I am sure that you will meet somebody else, who'll deserve you more than me."  
  
Nicole could not look at him any more; she turned her back upon him desperately trying to hold back tears. "Just go, Chris," she said finally. "There is nothing you could say or do to make me feel better just like there is nothing I can say or do to make you love me."  
  
The guy stared at her back for a while then picked up his bag. "I am really sorry it got to this." He waited for her answer for a few minutes and then opened the door and left.  
  
Nicole continued to stare into the open window. She noticed a man standing on the pavement. He raised his head and she recognised his dark hair and blue eyes, "Cole!" Nicole exclaimed not believing her luck. She rushed to the door, flew down the stairs and ran into the street. She saw Cole's tall figure just a few feet away. "Cole," she called again and ran towards him. But before she could reach him he turned round and Nicole saw him kissing a petite dark haired woman he held in his arms. Nicole felt herself falling down a cry escaping her mouth.  
  
"Nicole," she heard somebody calling her name. The young woman opened her eyes and saw Cole's face just inches away from her. His hand was wrapped around her waist and he looked at her worriedly.  
  
"Cole," she breathed out.  
  
"You had a nightmare," half demon explained, "you almost fell off the bed."  
  
She finally realized that she was laying on the very edge of the bed and only Cole's hand was preventing her from falling. She tried to move away from the edge, which led to her body coming in contact with Cole's, her hand touching his chest. Nicole's whole being split in half. Part of her yearned to be in his arms, to feel his strong muscles under her fingers and to repeat the kiss they shared, which has been haunting her all these weeks. Her nightmare brought back memories from five years ago of feeling humiliated and unwanted. And she wanted to hide from them in his embrace. But the other part was telling her to move away from him in order to keep up the wall she built around herself so that nobody ever again could make her feel so used. Her hand faltered ready both to touch his face and to push him away. As if he could read her thoughts half demon's hand tightened around her waist and he whispered softly, "Don't be scared of me, Nicole. I won't hurt you." He pulled her closer and could feel her arms wrapping around his neck. It was so long since Nicole felt safe and cared for that she could not stop tears forming in her eyes. And for the first time since she was four year old she did not fight them back. Cole could feel her body shuddering in his arms. He lightly stroked her hair, gently tightening his embrace with every sob. They stayed like that for a long time, cuddled together on a massive bed with almost no space between their bodies. A complete opposite of how they started that night. Neither of them noticed how they've fallen asleep.  
  
Loud thudding noise woke them up. Nicole set up abrupt hitting Cole's chin with her head. Both of them groaned. Somebody was banging on the Penthouse's doors. Half demon quickly glanced at the clock. It was five in the morning. He could hear loud voices outside the door.  
  
"Who is it?" Nicole gave him a worried look.  
  
Cole shrugged his shoulders, "We'll better find out," he said getting out of bed and heading out of the bedroom. When he got into the living room the door into the guest bedroom opened and Elizabeth peeped out.  
  
"What's going on?" she asked.  
  
"Don't know, but I am about to find out," Cole said continuing to the door. When he opened it he was greeted by the sight of the fire team.  
  
"I am afraid you have to leave the building, Sir," a young fireman said in a rushed voice.  
  
"What's wrong?" the half demon asked.  
  
"There is a fire in the apartment below you. We are evacuating the building. It's strange that your fire alarm has not gone off," the fireman's radio has blurted out something incoherent, from which Cole could not understand a word. But the young man seemed to make perfect sense of it, "We should hurry. They have troubles containing the fire downstairs. Who else is home with you, Sir?"  
  
Cole turned his head just to see Nicole standing behind him. She shook her head, indicating that Elizabeth had already shimmered out and half demon replied, "It's just me and my partner."  
  
"Then please follow us."  
  
"Can I just grab my jacket?" Nicole asked trying to get some time alone with Cole.  
  
"We need to go," one of the firemen stepped up. "It's not safe here."  
  
Half demon nodded, "We understand. We'll go downstairs straight away," with this words he pulled Nicole by the hand and headed towards the stairs hoping that the fire team we'll leave them alone. But there was no such luck. They were escorted all the way down and then out of the building where they joined their neighbours who were all staring up at the blazing fire shooting out of the windows. Young Lugels stood a few feet away from the rest of the crowd.  
  
"Oh, God," Nicole looked horrified, "this is just below the Penthouse. And look at these flames. It will probably ruin your apartment."  
  
Cole casually waved his hand, "Nothing will happen to the Penthouse."  
  
"How do you know?" Nicole asked.  
  
"Because I put a spell on it," Cole explained. "When I was the Source, I was flaming in and out, so I disconnected the fire alarm. Otherwise it would be going off all the time. I also put a protective spell on the apartment when Phoebe got pregnant. Did not want any accidents."  
  
When he mentioned Phoebe and her pregnancy Nicole felt a stab of jealousy but she did not have time to sulk on it because at the same time the cloud, which was hanging in the sky for the whole day, finally decided that it was time for rain and big drops of water started to fall.  
  
"Oh, crap" Nicole muttered. "I am stuck outside at five in the morning in my pyjamas. And it's raining." In two minutes they were both soaking wet.  
  
"I think we should go somewhere." Nicole suggested.  
  
"Trust me, I would have done it long ago," half demon grumbled, "but there are too many people here. And with all these lights around we're completely on the spot."  
  
Nicole looked at the entrance of the building and saw two firemen carrying their colleague on a stretcher. He was unconscious and she recognised the young guy who just quarter of an hour ago escorted them downstairs. Nicole turned to half demon, "Do you think we can do something about this fire?"  
  
Cole looked up thoughtfully, "Well, if we were there we could use our powers to transform flames into water and ice. But we can't get there, plus it would be difficult with all these firemen there. We'll risk exposure."  
  
"What about doing it from here? Combining telekinesis and water streams?"  
  
Half demon thought for a second. "It could work," he finally said. "OK, if you try to get a vision of what's going on so we don't throw some poor fireman into the flames, and then project it to me, I'll do all the water balls throwing." Half demon winced, "Oh, God," he mumbled under his breath, "fire balls sound so much better."  
  
Nicole gave him an amused look but quickly sobered up. She tried to concentrate on getting a clear picture of the apartment by intercepting the visions from the firemen fighting the flames but all she could get was a red blur. Nicole was cold, the rain has hardened and her clothes were soaking wet. She felt herself shivering from every gust of wind. "I can't get a proper vision," she said in a strained voice. "I cannt concentrate, it's too cold."  
  
"Try again," Cole urged, "here," he stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, "this should protect you from the wind." He pulled her closer and Nicole felt an immediate sense of warmth spreading through her body. She concentrated on using her telepathy again. Suddenly she felt an incredible surge of power rushing through her body. She tried to contain them but was overwhelmed by the immense force. The next moment she could feel her powers erupting from her body and flowing into Cole, who still stood behind her, the similar stream coming from him. Nicole's eye flue open and turned almost black. And she saw the apartment, very similar to the Penthouse, filled with smoke and flames. A small group of firemen was trying to contain the flames preventing them from spreading around.  
  
Cole could feel the streams of powers flowing freely between him and Nicole, pulling them closer to each other with the incredible force. The next moment he was hit by a vision of the apartment. Cole lifted his hand and a massive fountain of water erupted from the hose of one of the firemen. Half demon moved his hand slightly forward and the fireman unable to hold his pipe let it go. As if by the life of its own the hose flew a few meters and fallen into the flames. Cole opened his palm and a massive wave of water rose from the pipe and then collapsed consuming the flames. Half demon closed his hand. It was over.  
  
The members of the fire team looked around in shock. The flames were gone, so was the mountain of water, which they thought would drown them. Small puddles were covering the floor. But there was no sign of anything extraordinary.  
  
The crowd outside the building breathed out in relief. The blazes, which just minutes ago were bursting out from the windows above their heads, had completely disappeared.  
  
Nicole's eyes returned to their normal emerald colour. She breathed out and turned her head just to see Cole's eyes staring at her in shock. A few minutes passed and they remained silent, his arms still wrapped around her with her hands holding his wrists. To everybody they looked like lovers, cuddled together, waiting to get back to their warm bed. But they both knew that something has happened, something they did not expect and did not know how to react too.  
  
A young policeman approached them.  
  
"Hi," he greeted them, "I am Officer Grant. Can I take your names and address, please?  
  
His appearance forced Cole and Nicole to separate. "My name is Cole Turner," half demon said. "I live in the Penthouse of this building."  
  
The policeman wrote down Cole's named and address and turned to Nicole. "And you are?"  
  
"My name is Nicole Berg and I live at XXX Mansion Lane."  
  
While officer Grant was writing down her details, Cole asked. "Do you know when will we be able to return to the building?"  
  
The policeman gave him a sympathetic smile, "I am afraid it's not going to be today. The fire was very intense, so they are going to have engineers come and check that the structure of the building was not affected. Plus the experts have just started trying to identify the cause of the fire. It will take them a few hours. So you should find a hotel to stay. You can latter claim the money from your insurance."  
  
Cole and Nicole exchanged glances. "Thank you, officer," the latter said. "So can we go?"  
  
The young policeman gave Nicole appreciative look, which made Nicole realize that she was wearing just a silk black pyjama, which was now soaking wet. She folded her hands in front of her chest. Office Grant smiled at Nicole and said, "Yes, you can go now, but do expect that you might be contacted within next couple of days for some additional information." With these words he gave Nicole another flirtatious glance and walked away not aware of a strong urge Cole felt to incinerate Officer Grant on the spot.  
  
*****  
  
Piper Halliwell rubbed her aching back. This pregnancy was taking the best of her. She poured herself a glass of juice and slowly shuffled to the Sun Room. She planned to enjoy a few hours in front of the telly. Phoebe and Paige were at work. Leo was summoned early in the morning by the Elders. She had two free hours before she had to go to P3 and with any luck she could just relax. She settled on the coach when the phone rang. Piper mentally congratulated herself with being wise enough to move the phone to the coffee table so now she just had to starch her hand to pick it up.  
  
"Hello," she said.  
  
"Piper," Phoebe's voice was full of anxiety. "Switch on the TV."  
  
"Why?" Piper asked, "Are they showing a demon?"  
  
Phoebe let exasperated sigh, "Oh, trust me it's worth," she told her older sister.  
  
Convinced by Phoebe's serious voice the oldest Halliwell reached for the remote control.  
  
"We are reporting from the bottom of the Tower, one of the most prestigious tenement buildings in San Francisco," a young female presenter was saying. "Around 5 o'clock this morning the fire broke out in the apartment just below the Penthouse. When the fire brigade arrived the flames had already spread throughout the apartment. While one group of firemen was trying to contain the flames, the other had to evacuate the tenants. We've been told that there were approximately 120 people staying at the Tower at the time." The face of the presenter was replaced by the images of the Tower taken from the helicopter showing the flames coming out of its windows. Then the camera showed the fire brigade and police cars with flashing lights and a crowd of people in front of the building behind the police cordon. The camera was showing faces highlighted by the searchlights. Suddenly Piper saw Nicole Berg standing a bit away from the rest of the crowd in the embrace of one powerful half demon. One of his hands was slightly outstretched with his palm opened. Piper gasped. To a non-magical person it looked like he was trying to collect the raindrops. But she knew this gesture all too well. She's seen it so many times when Cole was conjuring a fireball.  
  
"You see what I mean," Phoebe said with content. "It was Cole who started this fire."  
  
The oldest Halliwell frowned, "Why would he do that?" she asked.  
  
"I don't know," Phoebe exclaimed. "And I don't care. We need to do something. And we need to do it fast. For all we know Cole could easily conjure evidence that it was Nicole who started the fire."  
  
"We should also speak to Darryl," Piper suggested, "see what police thinks about the cause of this fire. May be it wasn't Cole's fault."  
  
"Piper, you saw what I saw. He was conjuring the fireball. There can be only one explanation for that."  
  
"We did not see the actual fire ball," Piper protested. "Cole does not have a power to conjure invisible fireballs, he also can't send them hundreds of feet up into the air."  
  
"How do you know that? If we have not seen him doing that, it does not mean he can't."  
  
"Phoebe, I am just saying don't jump to conclusions. I will speak to Leo and see if the Elders know anything. And I will also call Darryl and then we can decide what to do."  
  
"Fine," the middle Halliwell snapped. "I have to go now but I'll be home by five." She hang up.  
  
Piper sighed, "So much for a quiet afternoon," she thought and picked up the phone. 


	14. Chapter 14

Here is a new chapter. Hope you'll like it. Please review.  
  
Chapter 14  
  
Nicole heard a knock on the door of her office. "Come in," she answered.  
  
"Ready to go?" Cole was standing in the doorway with his briefcase in one hand.  
  
"Absolutely," the young woman smiled relieved. During the last half hour these numbers did not make any sense to her anymore. She looked around her desk, which was covered with papers and decided that there was no point taking them home. And the best thing was that she did not have to. She did not have an annoying boss anymore, who would criticize her for being slow all the time. She put on her jacket and headed out of her office.  
  
When the elevator doors closed behind them Cole let out a sigh and pulled his tie loose.  
  
"Tough day?" Nicole asked smiling.  
  
Half demon smirked, "Let's see, except 3 meeting, on which both of us were present, I had a 300 pages contract to finish. And believe me after about 200 pages of the most laborious legal speak I've ever seen, your brain informs you that he has moved to Hawaii and unless you come up with a very good reason he's not coming back."  
  
Nicole smiled knowingly, "You think I don't know?" she asked. "I had to make a decision whether we're going to invest in this company or not, and the accounts they put in place were just immense. Plus the fact that we got up today at 5 o'clock in the morning did not really help."  
  
Cole nodded in agreement, "How many cups of coffee?" he asked teasingly.  
  
"Six," Nicole answered reluctantly. "You?"  
  
"Five," half demon replied proudly. "I won."  
  
"Oh, no, we said during the whole day," Nicole retorted, "And it's only quarter to four. We still have the rest of the day to go through."  
  
"Fine by me," Cole answered calmly but his eyes had a little spark in them, which did not go unnoticed by Nicole. "But you know yourself, that at the board meeting we'll be served just one cup of coffee, and then everybody will switch to water. It's California, everybody is obsessed with being healthy."  
  
"We'll see," young woman just arched her eyebrow and got into the car.  
  
The main office of BalFor Holdings was situated in a grand mansion on the border between the business part of town and posh residential areas. When the couple walked in, they were met by a middle aged woman, who introduced herself as Anne, company's secretary. She led them into a very large room with a massive table in the middle surrounded by thirteen chairs.  
  
"You are the first to come in," Anne smiled pleasantly, "please sit down, you'll find your name tags on the folders in front of your seats." With these words she left, and Cole and Nicole found themselves alone in the board room of BalFor Holdings. Nicole walked around the table and spotted that her and Cole were sitting opposite each other. The moment they sat down the door opened and a tall man in his early forties walked in.  
  
"Welcome to BalFor Holdings," he said with a strong Australian accent, "My name is Dorian Boldwin. I am the current chairman of this board and therefore will have the pleasure of introducing all other members when they come in."  
  
Nicole liked him, he had a very open attitude and his smile looked very sincere. The next person to come in was a Spanish looking woman, who actually turned out to be Argentinean. The rest of the board arrived within next two minutes. In total there were three women and eight men excluding Cole and Nicole. The last person to come in was Vladimir. He gave young Lugels a small smile. After the introductions were finished the Chairman suggested that they should proceed. The agenda, which Cole and Nicole received two weeks ago, was very short and straightforward and it was clear that the main purpose of the meeting was to introduce the new members of the board. When all the matters were discussed the chairman got up from his seat and headed to the bookshelves which completely covered the wall. His eyes focused on the middle row of books and the wall in front of him dissolved. Dorian put his foot on the staircase, which appeared in front of him and turned to look at the new board members. "Please follow me," he asked seriously.  
  
Cole and Nicole exchanged glances and encouraged by Vladimir's smile followed the Chairman. The latter disappeared from the bottom of the stairs and then reappeared on the platform. Nicole who was standing behind him took a step back. "Are we supposed to shimmer, blur or orb there?" she asked eyeing the flames roaming below the platform.  
  
"You are not supposed to do anything. This is a vortex, just step down, you'll be fine." Vladimir explained supportively.  
  
The young woman took a deep breath and stepped down, she felt her body being sucked into the powerful stream, which carried her down and then up. She could not say if it lasted a second or an hour when she found herself standing on the platform in a grey robe. A moment later Cole materialized next to her. One by one other members of the board joined them, forming a circle. All of them wore their hoods down and young Lugel was surprised that she could not recognize some of them.  
  
"Don't worry," Dorian said, "Most of us have several identities and some prefer to keep the real one separated from BalFor Holdings. Especially people, who are famous to general public, like Celina. Anyway, I am really happy that we have our Council complete again and we finally can start to work on our peace treaty. We've been waiting for this for so long." He paused and then continued. "Anyway, I'll start with introductions. You already know that there are thirteen Lugels at any time, with the exception of last twenty five years. Two for each continent, so in North America we have you two and Celina. Vladimir represents Easter Europe. We also have Carlos," he pointed to a tall skinny man in his late sixties with an arrogant black eyes and a goatee beard. The latter gave a short nod. "He is based in Spain," Dorian continued. "Myself, I am from Australia, which you probably already guessed and so is Steven here," he pointed to a guy about Cole's age with a brown hair and piercing green-grey eyes. "Then we have Angela," a tall woman in her forties with gorgeous black hair and amazing blue eyes smiled at young Lugels, "she is based in Argentina and Gabriel is based in Peru." The blond guy wearing small spectacles shook Cole's and Nicole's hands. "And," Dorian resumed "last but not least Sylvester from Egypt and Kara who is currently based in Kenya, they are covering Africa."  
  
"Wow," Nicole thought to herself impressed by the looks of the two members. "They are definitely not the least. And if they ever have children the rest of the population can take a break from any beauty contests."  
  
Dorian finished the introductions and sobered up. "Now we should discuss the current situations and how it reflects on our plans. I believe that you have restored Belthora's powers and memory yesterday?" he turned to Cole.  
  
Half demon tensed slightly, "Yes," he replied curtly, "and for what I can say it was successful."  
  
"Have you had a chance to talk her about our plans?" Carlos asked.  
  
"Yes," Cole answered, "she needed time to think. She went to the Underworld to check up on the situation and we have not spoken to her after that."  
  
"Well, we don't exactly have much time. When do you think we'll know her answer?"  
  
"I don't know," Cole raised his voice. "It's a serious decision to make and I don't want to hurry her."  
  
"But you'll have to," Carlos insisted. "We don't have an eternity here."  
  
Cole was about to respond but Nicole spoke up first. "But we don't have a right to make a mistake either. We need somebody who will be hundred percent committed to the task. If we force Elizabeth to accept our proposition now and two months down the line she changes her mind we are going to be much more behind than if we let her to make the decision in her own time."  
  
"That's a good point," Angela backed her young colleague.  
  
The other Lugels nodded.  
  
"I think we'll leave it up to our Chosen Two to find the new Source." Dorian summarized general opinion. "Obviously we provide any backing needed. But if Cole's mother agrees to become the new Source we'll gain a very powerful ally. She is completely capable of running the Underworld on her own and with the right support Elizabeth would become the most powerful Source ever. Unfortunately we have a much less clear picture of what to do with the Power to Be."  
  
"I am actually surprised about it." Nicole said calmly. "The witchery community is much easier to rule than demons. In all the history of Powers to Be there was not a single coup against the Elders Council. Plus witches are much more dependent on their leaders for information and even for their lives. Without Whitelighters witches will not last long. So therefore the Elders council has much stronger grip on its congregation than the Source. Also most witches live mortal lives, and if relieved from necessity to use their powers, they'll be much likely to find something else to do than demons. So all we need to do is to convince the Elder's council in the necessity of the peace deal."  
  
Listening to her Cole smiled proudly. She was good. It was a most comprehensive analysis of the Powers to Be system that he every heard. And considering that Nicole had no idea what Powers to Be were just two weeks ago, that was an impressive achievement. The rest of the Lugels council was nodding along her words and Sylvester was the one to speak up after Nicole finished.  
  
"That's absolutely correct. There is just one problem, the Elders Council is unbelievable conservative. We were hoping to make you the Head Elder to introduce some fresh blood into the Council. But now when we can't do that we need to find a different way. I still think that in principal our plan was correct, we just need to find a different person.  
  
"I agree," Rodgiv nodded energetically. "We need a whitelighter who is respected among the Elders, and who also can cooperate with demons."  
  
"You don't mean Leo Wyatt?" Cole asked incredulously.  
  
"He is highly suitable," Steven remarked.  
  
"Yes, and highly narrow minded," Cole commented caustically.  
  
"Perhaps. But you worked with him in the past and very successfully. He has a history of breaking the rules and open disagreements with his bosses. Comparatively to other whitelighters he is one of the most flexible." O-Li spoke calmly.  
  
"He only broke the rules for the Halliwells. And yes, we did work together but out of necessity. He always felt uncomfortable about working with a demon. And I think he was very relieved when it stopped."  
  
"The reasons behind your cooperation are not relevant here. It worked, that's what matters," Carlos stated firmly. "Despite you won't have to work together a lot. The plan is that our delegates will be mostly independent. You will only provide support when necessary. And you don't have to like each other for that. The most important is that Leo believes in the necessity of the peace treaty."  
  
"And how are we going to achieve that?" Cole smiled sarcastically. "You're basically asking a whitelighter to work behind Elders back and to manipulate their opinion. If he gets caught it will cost him his wings and his life."  
  
"But if the peace is not made it will cost him a complete destruction of his family," Celina said quietly.  
  
Completely unaware of the conversation, which could have such drastic effects on his life, Leo Wyatt had just orbed into the Sun room of Halliwell manor and found the Halliwell sisters talking to Darryl. Whitelighter's face was always like an open book so the moment blue sparks of his orb subsided, he heard Piper's voice, "I think we are going to hear some interesting news."  
  
The rest of the group just stared at the whitelighter, the latter sat down on the couch and gave the sisters unhappy look, "Yes," he said, "and the Elders are very concerned. The apartment below Cole is rented by an empath with strong telepathic abilities. He's moved in just a month ago."  
  
"Oh, God," Paige exclaimed, "that explains everything."  
  
"And it's not all the news," Leo continued. "The Elders felt a massive surge of powers in San Francisco early this morning."  
  
"Can they say where exactly it was?" Piper asked.  
  
Leo nodded, "The pinpointed it to the area around the Penthouse."  
  
Everybody was silent for a moment and then Phoebe said, "Well, at least we know whom we are dealing with. All the pieces are falling together. Now we just need to decide how to vanquish the bastard?"  
  
A skeptical smile twisted Piper's lips but before she could say anything, Leo heaved a long sigh. "It's not that easy Phoebe," he said. "The Elders told me that the surge of powers was extremely strong."  
  
"How strong?" Piper asked her face expressing concern.  
  
"The Elders said that there wasn't anything like that ever. If you combine the powers of all witches and demons together it would still not be enough to generate such outbreak. And your power of three is like a drop in the ocean comparatively to this."  
  
"So do they think that this surge was generated by Cole's powers?" Paige asked uneasily.  
  
"They don't know. Cole had used his new powers a lot since coming back from the Wasteland and according to the Elders they could feel his powers before but it was nothing even remotely as strong as yesterday."  
  
"Maybe he was concealing the true magnitude of his powers. Or maybe he found the way to increase them?" Paige suggested.  
  
"The Elders don't know. They are very concerned and think you should be really careful when dealing with Cole."  
  
"But we have to do something," Phoebe exclaimed. "He is completely out of control now. He murdered this Schwarzlight guy and fraudulently inherited his fortune and now he sat an apartment on fire and it's just a miracle that nobody died."  
  
"We don't know all that," Darryl said quietly.  
  
"What do you mean?" Leo asked confused.  
  
"I mean that it's all just your suspicions and facts are saying nothing like that. William Schwarzlight died from a heart failure. Even if we assume that Cole has killed him using his powers, how do you explain the fact that neither Nicole Berg, who should be suspicious of Cole in the first place, since he received the inheritance, which should have gone to her, nor BalFor Holding, raised any alarm?"  
  
Phoebe was losing her patience, "Darryl, we already told you that Cole can manipulate other people's minds. Look at Nicole Berg, she just arrived to San Francisco and it took her a week to move in with Cole. Come on what woman in her right mind will do it?"  
  
"Phoebe," Piper tried to calm her younger sister down. "We don't know if they are living together, she might have just stayed there for a night."  
  
"She wore a night gown, Piper!" Phoebe retorted, "Women usually don't take their night gowns with them on a date just in case things go well."  
  
"Look," Darryl decided to interrupt the "night gown" discussion before it went any further. "Even if Cole manipulated Nicole Berg, what about the others? Can you imagine how many people are involved in control of an inheritance of such level? There are lawyers and accountants of William Schwarzlight, then there are lawyers and accounts of BalFor Holdings, Board of Directors, Executive Team, all shareholders, auditors and God knows how many others. To pull this off Cole would need to manipulate minds of half the city. It's just not realistic. Plus I checked the history of BalFor Holdings, fifty years ago there was another case where shares were left to the person completely unrelated to the belated owner."  
  
"So you think that he's completely innocent?" Paige asked raising her eyebrows in doubt.  
  
"I am not saying that," Darryl heaved a frustrated sigh. "I am just saying that you should consider the possibility that Cole is innocent. Accusation of murder and fraud are very serious and you need at least some proof before you accuse somebody of that for your own safety. You don't want to be dragged into Court for slander and from what you told me this woman Nicole Berg already threatened you with legal action."  
  
The moment Darryl finished all three Charmed One started talking at the same time, Piper was saying that Darryl was right, Phoebe was insisting that they did not understand the seriousness of the situation and Paige was suggesting to try to strip Cole's powers as they did with Barbas.  
  
Leo looked at his three charges and heaved a frustrated sigh. Sometimes the Halliwells drove him nuts. "Enough," he yelled not able to maintain his composure any longer. Unused to Leo raising his voice three witches immediately stopped talking and stared at him. Whitelighter looked at Darryl. "What did you find out about the fire?" he asked in a calmer voice.  
  
The policemen shrugged his shoulders. "It's all clear. The cause has been identified. Your empath or whatever he is had his girlfriend over last night. So he put one of these fake fireplaces on. Then they got a call from his mother, she was taken to hospital with a heart attack so they rushed there and the guy reckons he left the fireplace on. They spent the night in the hospital and did not come home till 7 pm this morning, when police phoned him."  
  
"Talk about a bad day," Piper murmured.  
  
"Yeah, and dangers of bad taste," Paige added "If he did not want to fool around with his girlfriend on the living room floor in front of the fake fireplace he would have one problem less now."  
  
"Anyway," Darryl continued, "this all has been confirmed by our experts. The interesting thing is what the fire brigade told me. They had real problems containing the fire. It was discovered late. Apparently this guy had disconnected a fire alarm," he gave three witches a pointed stare. "No doubt for the same reason as you. But he also had a lot of bottles with some stuff containing alcohol."  
  
"Potions," Paige muttered under her breath.  
  
"Aha," Darryl quipped sarcastically. "Well, I hope you don't mind that I told the experts that the guy loved showing magical tricks. These things started exploding producing some coloured fumes, which were very difficult to extinguish. So the fire brigade had real troubles. One of them was carried out unconscious and the rest continued to battle the fire trying to at least prevent it from spreading. And suddenly one of the hoses just slipped from the guy's grip and the next thing they saw was a massive wall of water coming on them from nowhere. It hanged near the ceiling for a minute and then collapsed down completely extinguishing the fire. But what shocked them even more was that all this water just disappeared into nowhere. All five firemen who were in the apartment at the time are unanimous in saying that the wave was so massive is should have flooded the apartment completely. But there was just a thin layer of water on the floor nothing out of the ordinary."  
  
Three sisters and Leo exchanged unsure glances. "That's sounds really strange," Paige was the first to speak.  
  
"And it does not help us with Cole's issue." Piper said. "Was he the guy who started the fire, or was he the guy who extinguished it?"  
  
"Or may be both?" Phoebe suggested.  
  
The rest of the family and Darryl stared at her. "Common guys, just think about it. Cole started the fire and then found out that the guy was not coming home, so he just extinguished it to avoid damaging his precious Penthouse."  
  
Piper shook her head, "Phoebe, I think you are taking it a bit far. If Cole wanted this guy dead he did not need to bother with the whole fire thing. He could have just killed him. The empath would have disappeared and no one would ever link it to Cole. Now there is a police investigation. Why go in so much trouble? Remember, Cole never liked using his fire powers, even when he was Belthazor. He was always going on how uncontrollable it was. For him would be much easier to just kill this guy and forget about it."  
  
"If he had killed the guy than we would be on his doorsteps," Phoebe objected. "Now it all looks like an accident and if we did not see this picture on TV we would not have thought Cole had anything to do with it. Plus Cole does not need the empath dead. He just wants him out of the building and he succeeded perfectly. Even if the guy would still want to live in this apartment, which is unlikely, it would be ages before it is suitable for living again." The middle Halliwell took a deep breath and looked at her sisters and Leo. "Look guys, we can talk about all the possibilities endlessly. And I feel we are not getting any closer to the important point. Right now we have an innocent to protect. The circumstances are highly suspicious and we ought to do something until it's too late. Or do you really believe that Cole is completely unconnected to the whole story?"  
  
Everybody exchanged glances and Piper answered, "No, he is involved but..."  
  
"But what, Piper?" Phoebe asked in unpleasant voice. "If he is involved than we need to do whatever it takes to protect our innocent, even if she is so unpleasant. Yes, we can't fight Cole now, but at least we can try to safeguard Nicole. "  
  
"I think Phoebe is right," Paige said. "And since we tried talking to her before with no success what so ever I believe it's time to tell her the whole truth about Cole."  
  
"What did the Elders say about it?" Piper asked her husband.  
  
"They are not kin on the idea," the whitelighter answered, "they asked to try to avoid it but if we're left with no choice we can do it."  
  
"Fine," Piper said, "then I think we should talk to her but without Cole being there."  
  
"Do you know where he is staying," Leo asked Darryl.  
  
"Probably, at the Schwarzlight mansion," the policemen pulled out his notes. "The experts and insurance people are still finishing in the Tower, so the tenants were staying with friends and in the hotels. Cole's name is not listed in any hotels, so he probably is staying with Nicole Berg. At least they were seen leaving together this morning." Darryl bit his tongue. The last sentence was completely unnecessary and the way Phoebe's face changed made Darryl feel as if he had kicked her in the gut.  
  
Piper also noticed Phoebe's expression and said, "In that case, the best thing to do would be for you, Darryl to go first and talk to Cole tet-a- tet. You are completely in your right since you are conducting the investigation. And while he is busy answering your questions we can talk to Nicole." 


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15  
  
Cole and Nicole were driving back from the BalFor Holdings/Lugel's Council meeting. Neither of them said anything. The last two hours were full of surprises and revelations and Nicole now felt her head starting to spin from the complexity of their task. She rubbed her face trying to arrange her thoughts.  
  
"It's a lot to digest," she heard Cole saying. The young woman looked up at him. He was concentrating on his driving but she could see that he was tired.  
  
"Yes," she simply answered. "I just can't take it all in," she rubbed her face again.  
  
"Look," half demon parked the car in front of the mansion and turned to look at Nicole. "I think we should take a time out. We are both exhausted and I don't know about you but all I can think of right now is sitting on a coach with a drink in my hand and my feet on the coffee table."  
  
Nicole smiled and nodded, "Sounds great to me, except I also want some food. I am starving."  
  
Cole grinned back, "So am I, but I am not cooking. I've done my fair share yesterday."  
  
Young woman looked at him pleadingly, "Take away?"  
  
Half demon could not stop himself from laughing at her dreamy expression, "Absolutely," he answered and climbed out of the car.  
  
They both headed straight to the kitchen where Nicole discovered earlier a big stack of different take away menus. They easily agreed on the Mexican style but picking the dishes was more difficult. They were just in the middle of choosing the main course when the door bell rang.  
  
"Oh, God," Nicole rolled her eyes, "if it's Celina, I'll tell her that one more revelation and tomorrow she'll be visiting me in the mental institution." She went to the door and flung it open expecting to see the French woman standing on the porch but instead her gaze met with the pair of dark penetrating eyes belonging to Elizabeth Turner Raynolds.  
  
The older woman flashed Nicole a cool smile. "Good evening," she greeted graciously. "I could not shimmer into your house so I had to knock."  
  
"Yeah," Nicole smiled politely, silently thanking her uncle for putting protecting spell on his house. "Are you here to see Cole?"  
  
Elizabeth eyed young woman with such intensity that Nicole felt really uncomfortable, "Actually, I am here to see both of you," the demoness answered still staring at the young woman.  
  
"Oh," Nicole felt that she was being evaluated according to the personal list of Elizabeth Turner and had no idea how high her current score was. "Please come in," she offered, "Cole is probably in the kitchen."  
  
She let the older woman go first and followed her trying to think of a reason for this visit. They found Cole studying the Mexican restaurant menu.  
  
"Belthazor," Elizabeth smiled at her son, "Again in the kitchen, you are making it a habit."  
  
"Well, what can I say," Cole said his expression totally serious; "I like to eat."  
  
"Of course," his mother gave him a mocking look. She then sobered up, "And on the topic of food. I came here to invite you for dinner tomorrow. I am celebrating my return to the Underworld. It will be a small gathering of close allies. And it would be great if you could come."  
  
Cole shot his mother a questioning look but her expression did not change. "Of course," he said, "I'll come. What time?"  
  
"About eight. Smart casual, as I said it would be a small group of people." She turned to Nicole, who was standing near the wall trying not to get upset from being so bluntly left out of this family affair or at least not to show how upset she was. "You should come as well," Elizabeth said. "It would be good for you to meet my guests; they are all very powerful demons."  
  
Both Nicole and Cole were shocked by this invitation. The half demon did not expect his mother to be so welcoming to Nicole. During all his life Elizabeth never even said hello to any of his demonic girlfriends. The young woman was so surprised that she just managed to mumble, "Thank you, I will come."  
  
"Well, if that's settled, I'll better go." Elizabeth said, "Would you show me out?" she turned to Nicole. The latter has not yet recovered from her previous shock and only managed a silent nod and followed the demoness into the hallway. When they were far enough for Cole not to see them, Elizabeth stopped. She turned to Nicole and gave her another one of her penetrating stares. Nicole had enough of that. She did not want to pick a fight with Cole's mother but she also was tired of being examined like a specimen on sale.  
  
"Mrs Raynolds," Nicole tried to sound polite but firm at the same time. "I am a little uncomfortable with you staring at me all the time. If you want to ask me something then just say so."  
  
Elizabeth stared at her for a few more seconds and then laughed. "You've got character," she said, "I was hoping it would be the case."  
  
Nicole raised her eyebrows," You were hoping I would tell you off?" she asked in a slightly puzzled tone.  
  
Elizabeth shrugged, "I was hoping you would stand up to me. I would not want some pathetic wimp next to Belthazor." She stopped laughing and said in a business voice. "I accept the fact that at the moment you are the person who is closest to Belthazor. And as long as you are loyal to him I won't interfere. But if I ever find out that you as much as have a thought about betraying him, nobody, not even Lugels, will save you." She paused and Nicole knew perfectly well that she got her warning and that this statuesque looking woman with a pleasant smile will kill her in a most terrible way if it meant protecting her son. "Now," Elizabeth continued. "Tomorrow will be your first open appearance in the Underworld, am I right?"  
  
Nicole nodded.  
  
"Then there are few things you need to know. First, don't ever again call me Mrs Raynolds. I will not be called by the name of this bastard. You can call me Elizabeth in the Upperworld and Belthora in the Underworld. Second, use your demonic name during the party, the same goes for Belthazor! And the last thing," the demoness took the bag she was holding and handed it to Nicole. "This outfit would be just right. It should be the right size, if not I am sure you'll manage to alter it. Wear it. Appearance is everything in the Underworld. And demons have a long memory. You mess up once, everybody would talk about it for a decade."  
  
Nicole was speechless. At least the warning Elizabeth gave her a minute ago was something young Lugel could expect. But Cole's mother giving her instructions of how to behave and what to wear at the dinner party was completely bizarre. "Why are you doing this?" Nicole asked.  
  
Elizabeth observed her with a cool stare, "You are Belthazor's partner now and should look accordingly," she said simply and turned to leave. She stopped just in front of the door. "By the way, it will be better if you use your shape shifting power tomorrow. Nobody needs to know how you really look." With these words she left. And Nicole just stood in the middle of the hallway with a shopping bag in her hand. She then shook her head and returned to the kitchen.  
  
Cole was already on the phone ordering food. He disconnected and turned to Nicole. "Sorry," he said, "you were taking so long so I just went ahead but I ordered everything you mentioned." He looked at Nicole's face and immediately became alert. "What happened? Was she rude to you? Did she threaten you?"  
  
"No," Nicole said, "She gave me this dress to wear tomorrow and told me to shape shift into somebody else so that the other guests don't know my real face."  
  
Cole was surprised. This was so much not what he expected from his mother. "Well, that's probably a good idea," he said slowly. "What else did she say?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing," Nicole tried to sound convincing. She did not know if the half demon believed her but he did not say anything. They sat in silence for a few minutes each of them in deep thoughts. The knock on the door interrupted their reveries. Nicole jumped up, "Food!" she exclaimed and rushed to the door. She flung it open and saw a handsome tall man with rich brown skin standing on the porch. He looked strangely familiar but Nicole could not remember where she knew him from.  
  
"Hi," he said giving Nicole a brief smile. "I am inspector Darryl Morris," he flashed a badge, "SFPD. I am investigating the fire, which happened early this morning in the Tower. You must be miss Berg?"  
  
When he said his name she remembered where she saw him: in Cole's memories. Morris was a big friend of the Halliwells. Nicole smiled at him. "Yes, I am. How can I help you?"  
  
"Well, I wanted to speak to Mr. Turner and was wondering if he was staying with you?"  
  
Nicole was not keen on telling him the truth and was about to lie when Cole appeared behind her back saying, "Do you need a hand?" He stopped mid sentence when he saw their visitor.  
  
"Darryl?" Cole's voice sounded polite but distant.  
  
"Cole," the policeman greeted the half demon coolly. "I was just telling Miss Berg that I am investigating the fire accident. I just want to ask you some questions if it's okay."  
  
"Well, it is very late," the half demon frowned, "and I was hoping to have dinner."  
  
"It won't take much time," Darryl insisted, "just a couple of routine questions."  
  
"Fine," Cole finally said and immediately turned to Nicole, "Would you mind?" he asked.  
  
"Not at all," she flashed him a brief smile. "You can go to the living room." She went in and headed to what Darryl guessed was the kitchen. Himself he followed the half demon into the living room still pondering on the way Nicole and Cole looked at each other. Darryl always complimented himself on being able to spot the romance in its very bud. And here it was way passed that stage on both sides.  
  
"So what do you want to know?" Cole's voice snapped the police inspector out of his musings.  
  
Darryl opened his notebook and asked, "Do you know your downstairs neighbour, Alex Reid?"  
  
Cole shook his head. "No, he's new, moved in about a month ago. Come to think about it I've never met him, just heard from the building super attendant that we got a new tenant."  
  
"But he lives just below you?" Darryl was surprised, "How is it possible that you never even seen him."  
  
Half demon's expression became ironic, "It's quite easy actually," he answered, "He moved in a month ago. From this month I have been on holidays for the past 2 weeks, the week before that I was at work almost 24 h a day and the week before that I spent being drunk and generally in a bad mood, so I would not open the door even if he wanted to get acquainted with me."  
  
The condescending arrogance of his voice made Darryl wish that Cole Turner was an ordinary criminal and he could arrest him and put behind the bars for at least few hours, just to get this annoying smile off his face. But unfortunately it was not the case and police inspector mentally counted to ten before asking the next question.  
  
"So you have been on holidays for the last 2 weeks. Can you tell me where?"  
  
Cold blue eyes, which so far observed inspector with calm indifference now reminded more of icy daggers. "I've been in Europe," Cole answered, "but I don't see how this is connected to the fire accident."  
  
"I am just trying to find out when did you return home yesterday?" Darryl maintained the cool façade mentally praying that by now the Halliwells were well on the way with their plan. "Can you describe your day yesterday?"  
  
Half demon frowned. Darryl looked extremely uncomfortable asking his questions, nothing like his usual sharp self. As if he was waiting for something. But Cole could not figure out what it was. If it was anybody else the half demon would not hesitate to show his visitor to the door but he respected Darryl for his honesty and for attempts to convince him to move on with his life. So Cole decided to give Darryl a benefit of the doubt and play along for now, "I have returned from holidays sometime in the early afternoon, unpacked, then I read some papers. I had important meeting scheduled for Monday. Then I had dinner and went to bed and slept until the firemen woke me up."  
  
"Were you alone?" Darryl asked.  
  
Cole started to get tired. "No, I was not," he answered sharply and before inspector Morris could ask another question continued, "Look, Darryl, stop wasting my time and yours. I can see that you really want to ask me something else. So stop going around it and just spill it out?"  
  
"Fine," Darryl said. "Did you know that the guy living below you was an empath and a telepath?"  
  
"No," Cole exclaimed. The surprise on his face was so obvious that Darryl had to admit that either the half demon was telling the truth or he deserved an Oscar for this performance. "I had no idea he was magical."  
  
"And you had nothing to do with this fire as well?"  
  
Cole's face turned into a cold mask and Darryl was uncomfortably reminded that he was talking to a powerful half demon who could incinerate him with a mere flick of his finger.  
  
"Oh, I see." Cole's voice became sarcastic. "My lovely ex-in-laws are too scared to show up themselves so they are sending the police after me. Just one question, inspector, why the hell would I want to set his apartment on fire? I could have just killed the guy. It's much faster and much more efficient?" He glared at Darryl, who wished he never agreed to take part in the Halliwell's plan.  
  
"You did not want him dead," he finally said, resigning to use Phoebe's explanation. "You just wanted him out of the picture until your plan with miss Berg was completed." Even while saying it Darryl immediately knew that he just made a huge mistake and that the Charmed Ones got themselves into a lot of troubles. Cole's face hardened and his eyes flashed furiously.  
  
"I would advise you, inspector, to be careful believing the Halliwell sisters. It can cause you to make a mistake you don't want to make and cost you your job as well."  
  
Darryl knew that it was his last chance to say something and that the next moment Cole Turner would just kick him out of the house and be completely in his right to do so. "Look, Cole, I don't want to make a mistake. And I don't want Phoebe, Piper and Paige to make it either. That's why I am asking if you had anything to do with this fire? You have to admit that inheriting 20 billion dollars from somebody completely unrelated to you when that somebody has a niece is very unusual. And you also started dating the said niece 5 days after your divorce with Phoebe, which you claimed had broken your heart. And in less than a month after that there is a fire in the apartment of the empath who lives just below you. You can say that Halliwells are paranoid and I was brainwashed by them but it's a bit too much of a coincidence especially when one takes into account what you are capable of." When Darryl finished he was very surprised that first he was still in one piece and in the same shape and second that the expression of fury has disappeared from Cole's face and was replaced by normal human tiredness. The half demon sighed and said quietly.  
  
"You know Darryl, if it was anybody else, I would just throw him or her out of this house without even bothering to explain anything. But you always were an honest guy plus you have to deal with more weird crap than anybody deserves. So I am going to answer your question but on one condition that you will pass my message to the all mighty Charmed Ones and that you'll remember it yourself. I am tired and fed up with having to constantly defend myself. I am not married to Phoebe and I do not live with the Halliwells anymore. I have moved on with my life and I am done trying to prove to anybody that I am not an evil bastard. I have more important things in my life now. So next time the Charmed Ones decide to ask me some questions I will not be so forthcoming and I will use every mean possible to protect myself and those close to me from their interference." His eyes bored into Darryl's for a moment as if making sure that the latter understood what he was told. Then the half demon continued. "I have nothing to do with the death of Nicole's uncle. I owe this man not only my life but something much more important than that. It was his wish that I inherited his fortune and nobody will stop me from fulfilling my promise to him. With regard to Nicole Berg, do not worry about her. She is not a victim here. The last thing is about the fire. I had nothing to do with how this fire started. But I did end it." He saw a surprised look on Darryl's face and a wry smile twisted his mouth. "I'll give you a small demonstration." Cole opened the palm of his hand and a small water sphere appeared on it. The next moment this sphere disappeared from his palm and reappeared few feet in front of Darryl. In amazement the police inspector watched the sphere grow into a massive wave, which hung over him. Instinctively he wanted to run away from it but could not make a single move. Then the wave collapsed soaking him from head to toe.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" Darryl cried out.  
  
"You wanted to know what happened yesterday with the fire." Half demon replied coolly a hint of smile hiding in the corners of his mouth. "I've answered your question."  
  
Darryl looked around and found that the mass of water, which two moments ago was hanging over him and a moment ago has completely soaked his clothes, had again become a small sphere hovering over Cole's palm. The latter closed his hand and the sphere disappeared leaving the room completely dry. Inspector looked at Cole and grumbled, "Was it really necessary?"  
  
Half demon shrugged. "Nothing is better than personal experience. At least now you know that the fire brigade did not have a group hallucination."  
  
"And you could not be bothered to avoid soaking me completely or at least to dry me up as you did with the rest of the room?" Darryl asked trying to shake off the drops.  
  
"You would not have believed it was water, if you did not get soaking wet and about drying you up, here," Cole waved his hand and a big towel materialized in inspector's hands, "this will help." Darryl took the towel and started to dry his hair and face muttering under his breath. He was about to hand the towel back to Cole when he heard loud voices coming from the hall.  
  
"What the hell is it?" the half demon asked.  
  
Ten minutes earlier Nicole was sitting in the kitchen patiently waiting for Cole to finish his conversation with Darryl and for the food to arrive. When the door bell rang young woman hurried to open it expecting to see a delivery guy and was greeted by the sight of three Halliwell sisters and a young man in his mid thirties in whom she instantly recognised Leo Wyatt.  
  
"I think I told you not to come back?!" The anger flared in Nicole.  
  
In stead of answering her Paige grabbed Nicole's hand and tried to orb her to the Manor but nothing happened.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" young Lugel cried out and pulling her hand out of Paige's grasp.  
  
The witch shot a terrified glance at her sisters and Leo. "It does not work," she uttered. "Cole must have put a protective spell on the house."  
  
Nicole perfectly knew that it was her uncle's spell that prevented Paige from orbing her out of the house, the same way it prevented Elizabeth's from shimmering in earlier on. Young Lugel saw Leo trying to orb and then confirming with the nod that his attempt had failed as well. The series of panicked looks were exchanged between the Charmed sisters and their whitelighter. It made Nicole smile but she hid her amusement behind a frown and asked in a stern voice, "Well, may be you'll explain what does all this mean and why you are at my house again?"  
  
Phoebe and Paige were still in shock after their plan failed so miserably. Piper was the first to compose herself enough to be able to talk, "We wanted to talk to you," she said slowly trying to find right words. "You see, the last time we weren't completely honest with you because it involved telling you the secret, which we vowed to keep. But the events of the last days made us reconsider our decision. We realized that if we wanted you to trust us, we would have to trust you." The oldest Halliwell paused. She was hoping that the blond woman who stood in front of her would say something. But the latter just looked at them, her expression unreadable. Piper exchanged glances with her husband and continued, "When we warned you about Cole, we did not tell you why he was dangerous and why we were keeping an eye on him. It is a really long story and not an easy one to tell or to digest. We were hoping to tell it to you without interruptions. We live at 321 Prescott St. If you just come along with us we'll tell you the whole truth about Cole. "  
  
"And which truth is that?" asked a sarcastic voice. Everybody jumped and saw the half demon looming in the hallway next to the living room door. His eyes were cold and haughty and he regarded the Charmed ones with a mixture of anger and contempt. Cole made a few steps forward and now he was standing beside Nicole his eyes fixed on the Halliwells sisters. "Come on Piper, finish what you started, what truth do you want to tell Nicole?"  
  
Piper opened her mouth to speak but Phoebe bit her to it. "We are going to tell her the truth," she spit, "the truth of what you are." She turned to Nicole and continued, "He is not human, he is a notorious demon. His hands are covered in blood of hundreds of innocents he killed for more than a century. He can manipulate people's mind. Occasionally he expresses a wish to become good but don't trust him, it never lasts long." Phoebe's voice was ringing with emotion. Her face flashed red and she took a step forward and again fixed her eyes on Cole, "I will tell her what you did to me, how you turned me evil and almost destroyed my family. And when we are done, he'll see you for what you are, an evil heartless bastard."  
  
With every word she said Nicole could see how Cole's eyes were becoming more and more lifeless. His expression did not change, a sarcastic smile stayed frozen on his lips. But young Lugel could feel that every accusation was like a knife stab into Cole's heart and into her own. She could not take it any more. She stepped forward unconsciously moving in front of the half demon as if trying to protect him from Phoebe.  
  
"Enough," she exclaimed. "How dare you to judge him? You killed your husband without mercy when he was possessed by the Source, you basically killed an innocent man, a man you vowed to love till the death do you part? And you don't even have the guts to admit it."  
  
Her words caused the effect of an explosion. Phoebe looked as if somebody let all the air out of her. The rest of the Halliwells household were as shocked as their middle sister. Young Lugel gave them a contemptuous look, "I know," she said. "I know about The Charmed Ones, Belthazor, the Source and the Wasteland. Cole told me."  
  
"And you believed him?" Paige uttered sarcastically.  
  
"Yes, I did," Nicole answered sternly. "Because he told me the truth."  
  
"Yeah, right," the youngest Halliwell smirked, "did not you hear he has a power to manipulate people's mind?" She turned to Cole and seared him with a glare, "Good job, by the way. May be next time you can create a whole harem full of fans."  
  
Leo tugged his sister's-in-law hand. This was getting really dangerous. He could feel that both Cole and Nicole were furious and if the half demon decided to use his powers the Charmed Ones did not stand a chance. He shot a worried look at Cole and was surprised to see him laugh. But his surprise quickly turned into fear. There was no humour in this laugh, just anger and pain.  
  
"Sorry to disappoint you Paige," the half demon stopped laughing, "but I did not have to manipulate Nicole's mind. She can do it herself to any of you. Nicole is an empath with strong telepathic abilities. She knows the truth."  
  
Astonished by this revelation Leo stared at the young woman in front of him. "It can't be true!" he uttered.  
  
"You don't believe me?" Nicole smiled coolly. She stared at Leo for a second. "For the first time in your life you doubt if you are right. You wish Phoebe never met Cole because now you would not have to deal with this mess. And you really don't want to. You are used to dealing with black and white and you feel that now you are out of your depth. You are annoyed with the Elders for their set ways of dealing with things and for what they did to your family. But you are scared to do anything about it because they might take your wife and the son she's carrying, away from you." With every word she said Leo was getting more and more pale, but young woman seemed to not have noticed. She turned to Paige, "You are frustrated that nobody seems to listen to you. You want to be acknowledged as a better witch than Prue was. You also still think about Shane, because he was the only one whom you trusted and he then was possessed by the Source. And now you expect every guy you meet to be a demon or a warlock in disguise so you keep pushing them away. And deep down you blame the witchery life for that. At the same time you always wanted to be special and what can be more special than being the Charmed One." Nicole turned to the oldest Charmed One, "Piper, all you want is to have a normal life and a normal family. You want to move into your own house and share it with Leo and your baby, without sisters, charges and Elders. But you are scared that if you are not a witch any more, Leo will still be a whitelighter and you won't be able to stay together. You miss Prue because she was the oldest and now it's you who have to take the responsibility and you hate it. Every decision you make, you have to push yourself harder and harder." Green eyes moved to the middle Halliwell and stared at her, "Well, well, well Phoebe Halliwell, I could not even begin to describe what you feel: fear, denial, guilt. I can just tell you that it won't go away, it would get worse and worse with every day until you either find the courage to face yourself or turn into the old bitchy woman you met from your future. And this is your biggest fear of all." She took a deep breath and observed the pale faces in front of her. "Is it enough or would you like to know anything else?"  
  
The Charmed Ones and their whitelighter regarded her with horror. "Who are you?" Leo asked.  
  
"Does it matter?" Nicole replied. "You came here concerned for my safety. Now you know that I am safe. You fulfilled your duty."  
  
Leo opened his mouth to say something but a cheerful voice behind him made him stop.  
  
"Delivery from Mexicano for the name of Turner?"  
  
Everybody turned a saw a young girl standing near the porch with her hands full of boxes and a red van behind her. The girl observed the tensed group of people and tried to reach for her pocket. "Sorry, am I at the wrong address?"  
  
Cole snapped out of his stupor and smiled at the girl, "No, no," he said trying to sound casual, "you are absolutely right, we just did not expect you so soon." He pulled out his wallet, "How much is it?"  
  
"Sixty five dollars, Sir," The girl smiled at Cole. "Where do you want it?"  
  
Nicole perked up, "Just give the boxes to me, I'll carry them to the kitchen," she said.  
  
While Nicole was busy with the boxes and Cole was counting the money, Leo tapped his wife's hand. "We should go," he said quietly. Piper nodded and headed to the car pulling her sisters after her. The whitelighter followed them.  
  
"Bye, Leo," he heard a soft voice belonging to Nicole Berg. "We'll see each other soon." The whitelighter swirled around but did not see anybody except a delivery girl, who was walking to her van, huge smile on her face while she counted the large tip this gorgeous block gave her.  
  
Cole turned in his bed, looked at the clock on his night stand and cursed. It was 2 o'clock in the morning and he could not sleep. After the encounter with the Charmed Ones him and Nicole had a silent dinner, though neither of them felt really hungry and then went into the separate rooms. They both felt this evening had changed a lot not only in the situation with the Charmed Ones but their relationship as well. For himself Cole had to admit that never in his life he had more confusing emotions. He felt angry and hurt, grateful and guilty, proud and attracted. And his emotions were linked to two very different women. Never in his life had he faced such hatred as today with Phoebe. He felt that every single accusation she threw at him was a knife in his back. And then Nicole defended him with such passion and faith that Phoebe never had. And what did he do to repay Nicole for this kindness. He exposed her powers. Let the Charmed Ones know that she was magical. All his intentions of maintaining her incognito went to hell. He wanted to prove to the Charmed Ones that they were wrong. Did it mean that he still cared for their opinion in spite of what he told Darryl earlier on? His thoughts shifted back to Nicole. How she used her powers and practically destroyed the Charmed sisters and their whitelighter, especially the latter. Cole had never seen Leo's face so pale and distraught.  
  
The half demon decided that he needed a drink and got out of bed. When he reached the living room he saw Nicole sitting on the thick carpet in front of the fireplace. She was staring into the fire, her expression thoughtful. She did not hear his steps and he just stood there completely mesmerised by how beautiful she looked. The flames lit up her face and reflected in her black silk pyjamas. Her face was serious and Cole could see how her eyes sparked like emeralds from every movement of the burning fire. He probably could have stayed like this for a long time but Nicole turned her head and her eyes stared at Cole. He felt a guilty for spying on her like that.  
  
"Sorry," he mumbled. "I did not mean to spy on you. I just wanted to get a drink."  
  
Young woman smiled and shook her head. "That's okay," she said softly. "I could not sleep and decided to light the fire. It's much easier when you can throw fireballs in stead of using the matches."  
  
"Oh, yes," he nodded, "makes a big difference." Cole poured himself a scotch and set next to Nicole. "You don't mind?" he asked position himself closer to the fire.  
  
"Not at all," she smiled.  
  
They stayed quiet for a few minutes and then the half demon said, "Look, I am sorry I have blown your cover. I should not have told the Charmed Ones that you were an empath and a telepath."  
  
Nicole shook her head. "Don't be sorry. I am actually glad that they know. It would have happened soon anyway especially since we need to involve Leo in our plans. Plus," a small smile touched her lips, "I would have told them myself. And I'll be honest with you, I enjoyed using my powers for the first time for real not just for practice."  
  
Cole smiled, "And I'll be honest with you too. You were magnificent," he said his eyes sweeping appreciatively over Nicole. The young woman blushed. Though his compliment was related to her powers his eyes were saying different things than his words.  
  
The half demon did not know what was going on with him. He felt himself being drawn to Nicole almost beyond his own will. And with every minute they spent together he was more and more attracted to her. Everything in him screamed that he was given a treasure and he knew that he would kill anybody who would try to take Nicole away from him. But also there was a voice in his head telling him that she was an innocent girl, who already went through a lot of hurt and pain. He had no right, absolutely no right to bring more distress into her life. Cole looked up at Nicole and when their eyes met he could not look away anymore. Cole felt that he was drowning in her eyes. For a split second her soul has opened to him and he was shocked by what he saw: unconditional and overpowering love. But the next moment green eyes turned away and she was again staring into the fire.  
  
"You know," Nicole said quietly, "she still loves you."  
  
"Who?" the half demon was taken aback.  
  
"Phoebe. A lot of her anger comes from being jealous and scared. I could sense that, but even if she does not want to admit her feelings, she loves you and you might still have a chance with her."  
  
Cole shook his head. "No, we don't," he said quietly and when Nicole was about to object, continued. "Me and Phoebe don't stand a chance and we never did. We are too different. She always was uncomfortable with my darker side and initially I was eager to pretend that it did not exist, but it was a lie. It's part of who I am and unless Phoebe can love this part of me and trust me as I am we don't have a future. And I know that she will never be able to do it. But what is even more important I can't trust Phoebe either. When the person who swore to love you and stand by your side till death do you part kills you without even trying to save you, it also kills the relationship. I will always be afraid that if something goes wrong she'll betray me again. And where there is no trust there is no future."  
  
Nicole listened to him and her heart was swelling with joy. She tried to squash this feeling. It did not concern her, it will never concern her but a spark of hope was already ignited for the first time in five years. Young woman pushed these thoughts to the back of her head. She gave Cole a sympathetic smile, "I am sorry to hear that."  
  
A small smile touched half demon's lips and his blue eyes lit up. "Don't be," he said and looked up at Nicole. "Because I am not sorry, not any more." 


	16. Chapter 16

Thank you very much for all the reviews. Means a lot to me. Hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Any ideas are very welcome.  
  
Chapter 16  
  
Piper Halliwell woke up from an uneasy sleep to find that her husband was not back yet. After their disastrous visit to the Schwarzlight Mansion the whitelighter orbed to the Elders to try to find out anything he could about the powers of Nicole Berg. The other inhabitants of the manor went to their respective rooms. They did not want to discuss the situation. The shock of the revelations was still too strong. And neither of them wanted to face each other after their most hidden desires and fears were so brutally unveiled.  
  
The oldest Charmed One was happy that neither Paige nor Phoebe wanted to talk. She could not bear to be reasonable and responsible, not today. She needed time to rebuild the walls of her privacy. Now in the middle of the night Piper knew she could not sleep, she slowly got up and went to the kitchen trying not to wake her sisters up, if they were indeed asleep. This was what she hated. That she could not just go downstairs, switch on the lights all over the house without having to answer the questions about what's wrong with her, could they help, did she need anything. Piper told herself she was being ungrateful; there were so many lonely people in the world ready to give up everything for somebody to ask these questions. She loved her sisters dearly but she also deserved some privacy. She sighed and put a kettle on. Her thoughts turned to the events of this night. Nicole Berg made Piper scared, scared like she had never been in her life. It terrified her that somebody could so easily read her most inner thoughts, even those, which she did not admit to herself.  
  
A sound of the front door closing snapped Piper from her thoughts. She slowly walked towards the hallway ready to freeze everything and everybody. In the shadows of the night she could see a tall figure in the hallway. She raised her hands to freeze whoever it was when familiar voice stopped her.  
  
"Don't, Piper, it's just me, Leo."  
  
"Leo?" the Charmed One exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I went for a walk," her husband came closer and she could see his tired face.  
  
"I thought you were with the Elders," she said giving him a hug.  
  
"I was," he answered. "They were completely taken by surprise. Nicole Berg was not on their radar at all. So I waited while they were checking it out. But they still could not tell me anything. They simply can't sense her magic. The Elders are at a complete loss. They sent me back saying that for now we should leave Cole and Nicole alone. Especially since Darryl is convinced that Cole had nothing to do with the death of William Schwarzlight. And with this fire, Cole actually helped to end it."  
  
"Darryl!" Piper exclaimed, interrupting her husband. "We just left him there. What happened to him?"  
  
"He is fine," Leo assured her. "Apparently, when Cole realized that we were talking to Nicole he sent Darryl home, magically. Darryl got a bit of a scare but ended up safely at his house."  
  
"Good," his wife sighed with relief. Then she shook her head. "Leo, how did we get into all this? I feel that we are like blind puppies in the dark room and everything is spinning out of control. And now even the Elders don't know what to do."  
  
The whitelighter pulled her close into his embrace. "I know how you feel, honey. But don't worry too much. Things will become clearer. And then we will sort it out."  
  
"Are you sure?" she sobbed into his chest.  
  
"I am sure," Leo hugged her tighter and rested his chin on top of her head. His eyes were focused on something far away. He knew that something very big was coming. This evening when Nicole Berg first looked at him, he saw a glimpse of sympathy in her eyes. And her parting words still rang in his mind. He did not tell anybody about it. The voice in the back of his head told him that it would be a mistake. He also knew that Nicole told him the truth, they would meet again very soon. And then his life would change.  
  
Nicole was standing in front of the mirror in the Penthouse guest bedroom. It was getting close to nine o'clock in the evening and they were due to go to the Underworld in a few minutes. She could feel the anxiety growing inside her. It was her first real appearance in the Underworld and she was scared to mess it up. She knew that Cole would be there to support her, but still, she did not want to embarrass herself and him for that matter. She looked at herself in the mirror. The dress Elizabeth picked for her was gorgeous and just the right size. The young woman took a deep breath and headed into the living room. There she saw Cole looking out of the window. He turned around and his eyes widened in surprise. Instinctively his hand flew behind his back ready to release the fire ball.  
  
She in front of him cried out, "Cole, don't. It's me Nicole." She immediately shape shifted back into her real form.  
  
He relaxed his hand. "Sorry," he muttered, "I did not expect you would come out in a new shape."  
  
Nicole breathed out with relief. "Don't scare me like this. I thought you were going to incinerate me on the spot," she said. She shape shifted again. "So what do you think?" she asked.  
  
The half demon eyed the woman who stood in front of him. She was tall with boyishly narrow hips and subtle cleavage. Her black hair reached her shoulder blades and slanting brown eyes gave away her Asian ancestry. "You look great," he said sincerely.  
  
"Thank you," she smiled triumphantly, and whirled around looking at herself in the big mirror hanging on the wall.  
  
"You are welcome," he said. He was not lying. This lady looked great but he would much more prefer Nicole's real look. Cole closed his eyes and found that his wish was granted. With his eyes closed he could see the real Nicole standing in front of the mirror. He smiled to himself. Being one of the Chosen Two was indeed a lot of fun. "Have you already picked a name for yourself?" he asked.  
  
She nodded, "Yes, I have, what do you think about Kara?"  
  
He contemplated it for a few moments, "I think it sounds good," he said, his eyes still closed. His mother had a great test, he thought. The short strapless dress accentuated the beauty of Nicole's body, showing every curve. And the chiffon mantelet made the dress less revealing and more mysterious.  
  
"Why do you have your eyes closed?" he heard Nicole asking. "You don't like my looks so much?"  
  
The half demon got caught of guard, "No," he shot up. "You look lovely, it's just..." he paused.  
  
"What?" Nicole asked impatiently.  
  
"With my eyes closed I can see the real you," Cole finally said, "And I prefer this sight." The half demon carefully opened his eyes and was rewarded by Nicole shifting back into her natural shape and blushing. She gave him a shy smile and then shifted back into her new form.  
  
"We should go," she said.  
  
"Yeah," Cole nodded and they shimmered out. They arrived into the big cavern, which was lit up with torches and had a large table in the middle. Elizabeth was already there dressed in a beautiful gown.  
  
"Belthazor," she greeted them.  
  
"Mother," Cole answered in a cool voice. He nodded to Nicole, "This is Kara."  
  
"Nice to meet you," Elizabeth answered in a pleasant voice. "Please get yourself some drinks."  
  
They went towards one of the high tables filled with champagne glasses. When they turned around they saw that several more guests arrived. The first of them was a demon in his sixtieth. He shimmered in and smiled at Elizabeth.  
  
"Belthora! I am so glad to see you. I could not believe my eyes when I got your note. Thought it was a joke."  
  
"Krainer," Elizabeth smiled. "I am glad to see you too. Please come in." The demon walked in and Elizabeth was already greeting new guests.  
  
Krainer's eyes stopped on Cole and Nicole. His face expressed surprise. "Belthazor," he exclaimed. "I thought you were dead."  
  
The half demon smiled wryly, "The rumours about my death were greatly exaggerated," he replied.  
  
"But the Charmed Ones vanquished you shortly after your coronation!" a new quest, which was dressed in a long robe joined the conversation.  
  
"High priest Corado," Cole slightly bowed his head. "They did, but I survived thanks to my human half and ended up in the Wasteland. Now I am back with new powers." Cole answered respectfully but with great dignity.  
  
"So you've been to the Wasteland!" a younger looking guy has joined them, "did you bring you companion from there?" he pointed at Nicole.  
  
"No," the young woman gave him a cold stare. "I met Belthazor in London."  
  
"And you are?" Krainer asked his eyes boring into Nicole.  
  
"I am Kara," she said. "I am part demon/part darklighter. I have recently moved here. And Belthazor helped me to master my demonic powers, which manifested not long ago."  
  
The younger demon gave Cole an ironic smile, "Did not know you wanted to become a mentor, Belthazor? I thought you preferred to kill demons not to teach them!"  
  
Icy blue eyes stared at him, "Well sometimes killing is the only way out. Can't teach everybody, some people just lack the capacity to learn. You, Larent, should know."  
  
The voice behind them interrupted the conversation. "I am glad that everything is back to how it was." Elizabeth stated calmly. "But for now I suggest we enjoy the dinner, which has been just served and leave the questions for later."  
  
The guests followed her to the round table, which had twelve chairs around it. Nicole was seated between Larent and another demon, called Kalius. Cole sat on the other side of the table between high priest Corado and the keeper of the underworld library. Nicole felt very tense. Following Elizabeth's lead the conversation was kept general. The demoness told a brief story of her 30 year long disappearance, in a slightly altered form, which changed the power stripping spell that Raynor performed on her into power binding spell. Then the guests started talking about the chaos in the Underworld. Nicole preferred to keep her mouth shut but Larent definitely had different plans. He started a conversation with her, which was a mixture of flirting and interrogation and the young Lugel was very happy that she and Cole put so much time into Kara's cover up story. From his seat Cole kept an eye on Nicole and saw the other demon's attempts to interrogate her. He also noticed his attempts to flirt with young woman and though Nicole was in a different shape it still pissed him off. When the dinner was finished Elizabeth waved her hand and the table was clean again. Everybody looked at her expectantly and the demoness smiled slightly.  
  
"And now my guests, I would like to talk to you about something which has been on my mind since I got back. I found that the Underworld is in a grieve state. During the past year we lost a lot of very powerful demons. Since the Source was vanquished there was a lot of in fighting between different groups and I firmly believe that it lasted long enough. If the demonic world is to survive it needs a new leader, who will put the end to the in fighting and concentrate his efforts on bringing the Underworld to its former strength and in time to the new glory." The demons around the table nodded in agreement and the demoness continued. "I see that you all agree with me. So the question now is who will be the perfect candidate to become the new Source."  
  
There were a few quick glances around the table and Krainer spoke up the thought, which was obviously on everybody's minds. "Well, Belthazor here was already the Source before he was vanquished by the Charmed Ones. So there will be a lot of sense for him to become the next Source."  
  
Everybody's eyes were fixed on Cole. He leaned back in his chair and said seriously. "Thank you for the honour, Krainer, but I think that I am not the right demon for the job." He looked around the guests and continued. "I feel that the situation is calling for somebody with more experience and wisdom than me. Somebody who would be able to unite the Underworld, somebody who is older and therefore more respected."  
  
"It did not stop you 6 months ago." Larent remarked caustically.  
  
"Six months ago was a different story." Cole said sternly. "The Source's council was alive, so was the Seer. Now the Underworld is in complete chaos. The new Source would have to build the coalition of forces."  
  
"And whose fault is that?" Kalius asked. "You destroyed the Triad and as far as I remember it was your witch wife and her sisters, who killed the Source and destroyed the Council. The witches, which you, Belthazor failed to kill."  
  
Cole's face hardened and he replied in a calm but authoritive voice. "If you have a problem with me Kalius, I suggest that you take it up with me alone. Trust me, I'll be more than happy to oblige. For the rest of you I can tell one thing. I am not married to the witch any more and I will not be explaining myself on that matter again. But I understand that a lot of demons would have the same reservations. That's why I suggest that the best candidate to the throne is not me. You all know that there is only one demon in this room and in the whole Underworld who is worthy of the Source's throne. And I suggest that we all declare our loyalties to her." With this words Cole got up and kneeled in front of his mother who also stood up from her chair.  
  
"I swear my loyalty and my life to you, my Liege."  
  
Nicole already knew what would follow. While Cole was talking she quickly scanned the room. The demons there were loyal to Elizabeth Turner. In a next minute all guests were kneeling in front of the demoness who had a regal smile on her face.  
  
"I thank you for your loyalty, it will not be forgotten. I am also very proud that I have such a great Council. Now," she continued in a more business like tone, "we need to make a plan on how we are going to take the throne."  
  
For about an hour everybody was discussing, which steps had to be taken. Then the high priest Corado spoke up.  
  
"All this is nice and well. But there are two things, which are important. First we need to find the Grimoure. I know that some whitelighter has hidden it. But in order for the Source's powers to be properly activated we need to get the Grimoure back."  
  
Nicole shot Cole a look. He sighed and said. "I will try to find it. Leave it with me."  
  
Corado gave him a penetrating look and nodded. "Fine. This leaves us with one issue. I listened to you attentively Elizabeth. And I can see that your ambitions are high and they are so right for the Underworld. Since the death of the old Source and his Council we suffered major losses. The Powers to Be are taking an upper hand. And in order to at least return to our previous positions we need the Underworld to be united. And it means no fighting between different fractions and groups." He looked around the table. "Demonic part of the Underworld took the biggest blow and that allowed the warlock covens to become more and more powerful. From all the recent attempts to take over the throne most were by warlock's covens."  
  
"What are you getting at, Corado?" Elizabeth asked.  
  
"I am saying that if you want to take over the throne and don't go through too much fighting you need to get the warlocks on your side, at least temporarily."  
  
"But how?" Krainer asked.  
  
"By forming a blood bond with them," Corado answered calmly.  
  
"What?" several voices exclaimed. "What do you mean by blood bond?" Kalius asked.  
  
"He means marriage," Elizabeth replied.  
  
"You suggest Belthora marries a warlock?" Larent cried out.  
  
"No," Corado answered, "that would give warlocks too much power. You all know that warlocks are completely obsessed with the succession and family ties. So if the Source's heir would be half warlock, that could make them satisfied."  
  
Everybody looked at him confused, "You don't want me to marry a warlock but you want me to have a child from one?" Elizabeth asked slowly.  
  
The priest shook his head. "No, not you. The illegitimate child will not satisfy the warlocks." His eye shifted to Cole. "But your son, Belthazor, if he marries a warlock and they have a child then this child can be announced as the heir to the throne. That would be perfect."  
  
"What?" this time it was Cole. He stood up from his seat. "You want me to marry a warlock?"  
  
"That would make sense," Corado looked at the half demon. "You have to admit Belthazor that you would be considered as an obvious heir to the throne. But if you abdicate in favour of your half warlock son, then it would satisfy the warlocks and demons."  
  
"I am not marrying a warlock," the half demon's voice announced sternly.  
  
"Why not?" Krainer was surprised. "Come on, Belthazor, it's a normal thing. All demons marry at some point for convenience and procreation. You have a chance to secure the Underworld's future and rise in rank even further."  
  
Nicole heard their voices as if they were coming through the thick layer of wool. Her brain was in a complete stupor and only one thought was pulsating in her conscience. She would not be able to stand by and watch Cole get married. It would drive her absolutely insane. Nicole Berg had one quality, which she was very proud of, she never lied to herself. And now sitting around the table with all this demons she had to admit that she could not bare a thought of another woman next to Cole. Nicole was snapped out of reality by the sudden feel of danger. She scanned the room and did not see anybody. She made another attempt this time trying to concentrate harder and finally located a young man standing in the corner of the room holding an amulet in front of him, which she figured out was supposed to make him invisible. She concentrated her telepathic powers on him, she could see the guy flinching and a minute latter he cried out and dropped the amulet.  
  
The demonic gathering immediately became alert and turned their heads towards their unexpected visitor who was now perfectly visible. The young man panicked tried to blink away but Nicole was prepared and with a wave of her hand created a barrier against him. Unable to flee the guy panicked. "Let me out," he cried out.  
  
"Who are you?" Elizabeth asked.  
  
"I am not telling you," he snapped.  
  
Krainer picked up the amulet. "This is a very powerful amulet," he said. "The last time I saw this one it belonged to the Karenian coven of warlocks."  
  
"Well, how did he get his hands on it?" Kalius asked.  
  
"We'll find out," Cole said calmly. He came closer to the man and said, "Who are you?" He repeated Elizabeth's question.  
  
The young man had no lack of bravery, "I am not going to tell you."  
  
Cole gave him a chilling smile. "You might be brave but you are not very bright," he conjured an electricity ball, which hovered above his hand. "If you were bright you would tell us who you are yourself."  
  
"I am not scared of you, Belthazor," the young man cried out.  
  
"Well, that's just confirmed my opinion of you." Cole stopped smiling and his face hardened. "I don't have all day," he said. "So either you tell me who you are, who send you here and why or I will find out myself. And I will not even need to torture you. You see my friend here," the half demon turned to Nicole, "is a telepath. You already had a chance to see how powerful she is when you dropped this amulet. So I suggest you start talking or she'll make you and I can ask her not to be too careful."  
  
The young man seemed to be hesitating. Nicole got up and came closer to him. For a second she stared at his eyes. That was enough.  
  
"Okay," he cried. "I am Luke Karenian. I was sent here by my coven to check the rumours that you and Belthora were back and were gathering your supporters."  
  
"And why Henry Karenian did not come to visit me himself?" Elizabeth asked.  
  
The young man paused and Cole sighed. "Luke, I am not going to explain the situation to you again." He turned to Nicole, "Kara."  
  
"No," the young warlock cried out. "He suspected that Belthazor would try to claim the throne and Henry wants to become the Source himself."  
  
The demons exchanged glances and the priest turned to Cole, "This just proves my point."  
  
Cole gave him an annoyed look. But before he could say anything Elizabeth lifted her hand asking for attention. "Enough for now," she said firmly, "You both made your points of view very clear already. Now we need to take care about the situation at hand. We have already discussed everything that needs to be done, so I suggest all of you will proceed with your tasks."  
  
The demons nodded and Krainer asked, "What do you want to do with him?" he pointed at the warlock.  
  
The demoness smiled, "I am going to keep him alive." She looked at Nicole. "You'll need to scan his mind and remove everything he learnt during this meeting. Can you do it?"  
  
Nicole nodded and ignoring Luke's panicked expression concentrated on his mind. The young warlock was an easy target and it took the Lugel a couple of minutes to completely destroy all the memories of the young warlock's spy mission. She finished by putting him to sleep.  
  
"It's done," she turned to Elizabeth. "He will tell Karenian that you had a dinner with a librarian who was telling you about the chaos in the Underworld and nothing else."  
  
The demoness nodded approvingly. "Let's leave him here," she said and shimmered out followed by the rest of the group. 


	17. Chapter 17

Thank you all for the reviews. I am having a bit of a writers block at the moment and your thoughts and interest do help me to overcome it. This chapter was particularly difficult to write. Please, please let me know what you think.  
  
Chapter 17  
  
When Cole and Nicole reappeared in the Penthouse she immediately changed into her own shape.  
  
"That was an interesting evening," she said sarcastically plopping into the chair. "Your mother does not like to waste time, does she?"  
  
The half demon shrugged, "Well, it's in our interest, isn't it?"  
  
Nicole did not say anything. She could not stop thinking about the suggested union between Cole and some powerful warlock. The thought was like a needle in her heart. She wanted to ask Cole about it, to hear again that he was not going to do it. But she so much feared the answer that she could not bring herself to ask him directly. "So how are you planning to retrieve the Grimoure. I though Leo chucked it into the volcano," she said instead.  
  
Cole nodded, "We'll just ask him which volcano it was and retrieve it."  
  
For a second Nicole even forgot about Cole's proposed marriage. She stared at him with huge eyes, "You kidding, right?"  
  
It was his turn to look surprised, "No," he replied, "why would you think that?"  
  
"Because, even if Leo tells you the truth. And I admit we have ways to persuade him. It's a volcano, for God's sake. The book has long turned to ashes."  
  
Cole sighed exasperated, "Of course not," he said. "Grimoure is an ancient magical book created..."  
  
The young woman rolled her eye, "Yeah, yeah," she interrupted him, "I know, thousands of years ago by the first Council of the Underworld consisting of a demon, a warlock, a vampire, a darklighter and a magician. It was made in the depth of the Underworld from the magical powers of all five Council members."  
  
"Exactly," the half demon exclaimed. "And the depth of the Underworld is what?"  
  
Nicole just stared at him blankly.  
  
"It's hell fire," Cole explained, "which is pretty much the same as the volcano. So nothing happened to Grimoure in there, we just need to get it out."  
  
"You mean we'll have to go into the volcano?" Nicole asked terrified.  
  
"Not we, just me," Cole told her sternly. "You are not invincible, so I'll go alone." She was about to object, but he cut her off, "You know, I am right, Nicole. We sworn to do everything possible to fulfil our destiny and we have to do it."  
  
"But we did not promise to be suicidal," she cried out. "You have no idea if your invincibility is going to be enough. Come on, Cole, you cannot be serious. If you start thinking like that you should marry this warlock woman because it will help fulfil our destiny."  
  
A pained expression pierced blue eyes. Then Cole's face hardened, "I am not marrying a warlock, no matter what you or anybody else says," he growled and headed into his bedroom.  
  
Nicole felt guilty and was about to stop the half demon, but he slammed the door behind him and she turned around. Why was she always apologising to him?  
  
She went into her room. There she paced for a bit and then realised that she was too agitated to sleep. Nicole blurred into the underground garage and went for a long drive along the sea. The warm air ruffled her hair. And she welcomed fresh wind blowing into her face. She was hoping it would clear her head. Why did she mention this proposed marriage and so casually as if she did not care? And during this dinner in the Underworld she did not say anything, she just sat there with a plastered smile on her face. And it was Cole who fought against it. And she did not even try to support him. Was she going to just stand by and not do anything? Just hold on to her walls and keep Cole Turner at a distance? But what else could she do? Tell him how she really felt? For what? To hear back that he did not love her, that he still loved Phoebe. Nicole could not deny that Cole was attracted to her. And he probably honestly believed that him and Phoebe did not have a future but what would happen when Phoebe finally realized that she still loved him and wanted him back?  
  
She ran her hand through her hair. She did not know what to do. She glanced at the car clock. Two o'clock in the morning. She should be going back. Cole would be worried if he discovered that she wasn't home. Nicole cursed, how did it happen that Cole Turner became the first and the last thing on her mind?  
  
When Nicole got back into the penthouse she wanted to switch on the light and twisted the dimmer on the wall but the room remained dark. Nicole cursed. Great, now they did not have electricity. It was 21 century for God's sake. She decided it was time for some magical help. Nicole conjured a small fire ball which gave her enough light to see where she was going. She made a step towards her door but suddenly somebody grabbed her and the next moment Nicole found herself pinned to the floor, her arms trapped above her head, a strong hand pressing hard against her throat.  
  
She struggled for breath, "Cole," she managed to croak.  
  
The grasp on her throat loosened and a well aimed fireball hit the fireplace. The flames lit up the room. Nicole saw the half demon's face just above hers. He looked shocked.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed in his face.  
  
"I am sorry," Cole removed his hand from her throat. "I thought you were an intruder. Old reflexes."  
  
"So I see," Nicole muttered. Her initial fear disappeared and was replaced by embarrassment. Through the thin fabric of her dress she could feel the heat of his body. Cole was half dressed in a pair of black trousers and she could see short hairs on his chest. She expected that he would release her from his firm grip but Cole did not move.  
  
"What are you doing here with a fireball in your hand?" he asked suspiciously.  
  
Nicole glared at him, "I went for a drive," she snapped, "and when I got back there was no electricity, so I wanted to light my way by a fireball. I did not really expect you to attack me."  
  
"Oh, excuse me," Cole retorted sarcastically. "But when somebody is wondering around my house at two in the morning with a fireball in one hand, I prefer at first to make sure they can't fry me and than ask questions."  
  
"Nobody can fry you, Cole," Nicole's voice was full of derision, "so you can really afford to ask questions first."  
  
"Not when I have your ass to protect," he replied.  
  
"Ah, so now it's my fault that you almost strangled me?" she cried out, trying to wiggle out of his hands. "Would you mind getting of me?" she finally asked after her attempt failed.  
  
"With pleasure," he quickly got up. Nicole struggled to her feet and glared at Cole. He glared back. "Next time you are in the mood for the middle of the night stroll, be so kind and let me know."  
  
His mocking politeness infuriated her, "You know what, Cole, I don't have to tell you anything. I am an adult, for God's sake."  
  
"Of course, you are," he drawled. "But if you care to remember the whole point of us living in this house together is to ensure your safety and it does not help when you wonder around on your own in the middle of the night."  
  
"So what now I have to ask your permission to go out? Thank you but I am capable of taking care of myself."  
  
"I did not notice you taking care of yourself when you were fighting for breath two minutes ago."  
  
She knew that he was right but this wasn't the time to admit it. "Well, unlike somebody, I first think and then try to strangle my roommate. But thanks, for the pointer next time, when your reflexes take control again, I'll just electrocute you," she snapped.  
  
They both stared at each other.  
  
"Why are you so angry?" He asked. "I am sorry I attacked you but you know better than me that you should not wonder around on your own. It's not safe, especially now with the Halliwells on our case and my mother on a mission."  
  
Nicole tried to compose her anger but in spite of her best efforts her frustration spilled. "Because I want some independence. Because I don't want for my life to completely depend on you. It's all nice and well now. But what will happen when our task is finished or even sooner if you marry this warlock? Are you going to tell your wife that I am your sister and make us live here as a happy family?" She took a deep breath trying to hold back tears and then said quietly in a chocked voice, "I can't do it, Cole. I simply can't."  
  
Cole was surprised and relieved by her outburst. It proved to him that his proposed marriage bothered her. And that made him happy. For a short time this evening he feared she didn't care. He made a few steps towards her and lifted her chin forcing her to look at him. "It won't happen, Nicole," he said softly, "I am not going to marry this warlock."  
  
"But..." she started.  
  
"Not buts," he said pulling her closer. His mouth came down on hers and all protests were lost. He kissed her first very softly but when she responded, the kiss became more passionate, his tongue slipped inside her mouth exploring every corner of it. Her hands flew around his neck, her fingers muffling his hair. Nicole felt as if she was spinning down a vortex and only his strong hands around her waist prevented her from falling down. They broke apart for breath and stared at each other. For a second Cole thought she would change her mind and push him away but instead she lifted her hand and touched his face, her slim fingers caressing his cheek. There was so much warmth in her eyes that Cole lost it. He kissed her again with all the passion he felt and was glad when she responded to him as fiercely. Her hands moved down his back as if studying every muscle. Cole pulled away from her mouth and his lips travelled down her cheek and reached her neck. Nicole moaned as his tongue came in touch with her skin, licking it with just the right amount of pressure. She felt her body ignite and pushed herself closer to him, craving for the feel of his body. One of his hands left her back and reached to caress her thigh just at the edge of the hem. His fingers slowly slipped up and Nicole's body shuddered. "Cole," she moaned. His other hand travelled up her back and reached for the zipper. One swift move and her dress started to fall. The half demon took a step back to admire the result of his action. "You are so beautiful," he whispered in a hoarse voice. His eyes marvelled at the sight of her body now only covered by a small silk bikini and a see through open mantelet. Her face blushed and she gave him a look, which was shy and seductive at the same time. This look made him groan and he picked her up and blurred to the bedroom. It took them a second to get rid of the rest of their clothes and soon they were wrapped in a tight embrace exploring each other's bodies with their hands, tongues and mouths. Cole's mouth encircled one of her nipples and Nicole's body arched, soft moans escaping her mouth. Her hand slipped down his back tracing his spin with her nail. Cole moaned loudly. It was beyond what he could take. He pulled her closer and carefully slipped inside her. She gasped, her lips found his and both were lost in a rhythm of the moment.  
  
Nicole woke up early. Cole was still asleep and that gave her a rare chance to look at him without interruptions. He looked really young even with a distinct morning shadow on his chin. She smiled. She could not believe that they had spent the night together. He stirred slightly and in his sleep pulled her closer. She rested her head on his chest. It felt so great to just lie here, with their bodies rapped around each other. She wished they did not have to go, did not need to get out in the world where the reality ruled. She frowned slightly. What would happen now? Would they both regret this night ever happened? All her worries from yesterday were ready to rush into her head. But she pushed them away. She would not spoil this morning. She had plenty of time to worry when she was on her own. She felt him stir again and lifted her head slightly. Blue eyes stared at her and he smiled.  
  
"Morning," he said in a slightly hoarse voice.  
  
"Morning," she smiled back.  
  
Her smile was so beautiful that he was completely taken with it. It made him feel happy, relaxed. With Nicole he could be himself with all his wickedness, dark secrets, ambitious and possessiveness. He lifted her hand from his chest and kissed the white knuckles. Her smile widened and her eyes sparkled at him. It was amazing that with one look she could express so much. He gently rolled on top of her and kissed her slightly swollen lips. She tasted amazing, sweet and fresh. Her tongue gently slipped into his mouth and her fingers run through his hair. They were both lost in the kiss when the alarm on his night stand went off. Two hands stretched simultaneously in the direction of the sound and the alarm clock went flying into the wall. The ringing stopped and two lovers continued to explore each others mouths.  
  
When they stopped for breath, Nicole whispered, "We'll be late."  
  
"So what?" he murmured his mouth travelling down her neck. Her breathing became louder.  
  
"It's our... first... week," she managed to utter and moaned loudly when his lips encircled one of her nipples taking it prisoner.  
  
"So?" he asked a minute later his lips moving to her other breast.  
  
Nicole struggled to remember what she was saying. "Cole," she moaned and gathered together all sense she had left, "we can't... we have... meetings."  
  
The half demon stopped and Nicole felt a strong disappointment. He pulled away slightly, "Do we really have to go?" he asked with a grimace of a little boy that had been told to go to his room and do his homework.  
  
Nicole tried to contain her laugh, "Oh, no, Cole Turner," she said trying to sound sternly. "I know it always worked on all your teachers, but I am much tougher and not going to fall for this look." She rolled over from under him and pulled the sheet to cover herself. The moment she was out of his arms, a strong feeling of a loss hit her, loss and fear for what would happen next. She busied herself with wrapping the sheet around her body, when she heard his voice.  
  
"Would you go out with me tonight?"  
  
Nicole froze and not believing her ears turned to him.  
  
"What?" she asked her heart faltering.  
  
He moved closer to her so she could see his eyes, "I asked would you go out with me tonight, on a date?" he repeated.  
  
The young woman could no believe it, he was asking her out?! The half demon could see confusion in her eyes and explained. "I had a great night," he said quietly, "I don't want it to end."  
  
Her eyes lit up and she smiled so broadly and happily that it answered all his questions. "Is it a yes?" he questioned her anyway, "or you had such horrible time with me that the whole idea of the repeat makes you speechless." She could see twinkles in his eyes and instead of answering she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately.  
  
"It's a yes," she confirmed pulling away from him.  
  
Please Review. Thanks. 


	18. Chapter 18

Thank you very much for reviews. I found the last chapter particularly tough because of the love scenes; it's difficult to write them without too much sugar and just the right amount of details. So the fact that you liked it meant a lot to me. Thanks.  
  
Here is another chapter, please let me know what you think.  
  
Chapter 18  
  
On Friday morning Phoebe ran into the kitchen closing her earring on the way. The rest of the family was gathered around the table having breakfast.  
  
"Coffee?" Paige asked her elder sister.  
  
"No," the middle Halliwell answered looking around trying to locate her car keys.  
  
"Why are you in such a rush?" Piper asked. "It's only eight o'clock."  
  
"I know," Phoebe complained, "but I have to leave early to go shopping. Jason phoned me last night and told that today there is this Charity event and I really have to go. Apparently there will be a lot of high profile people. This means I need to go and buy a dress."  
  
"Why did Jason not tell you earlier?" Paige asked.  
  
"He messed up the dates. If Veronica hadn't asked him for a lift we would have missed it. And apparently it's very important. A lot of investment people are coming so Jason wants all leading columnists to be there."  
  
"Sounds like fun," Paige commented sarcastically.  
  
"It's not that bad," Phoebe assured her sister. "Usually there is good music and good food. Plus Jason will be there and if he is too busy with his business partners Jack and Mary are coming as well. So I won't be on my own."  
  
"Well, I hope you'll enjoy it, honey," Piper smiled at her little sister.  
  
"I hope so too," Phoebe finally located her keys and ran to the door, "Buy," she yelled from the porch.  
  
Nicole climbed out of the low Porsche and ran to the elevator straightening her skirt on the way.  
  
"You drove like an absolute maniac," she reproached Cole when they both got into the lift.  
  
"Well, excuse me," he retorted, "but it was you who kept telling me all the way that we could not be late. Now," he looked at his watch, "we are exactly on time. And by the way it was you who insisted on driving, we could have blurred, much faster."  
  
"Yes, and where exactly do you see us blurring to? It's a rush hour everywhere, not just on the road. And I don't think just appearing in your office from nowhere would be such a great idea. Your secretary already gives me such foul looks."  
  
Cole gave her a teasing smile, "Well, she's a secretary after all. You can't hide from them, they have the power of knowing things even before you do. Comes with the job. And in our case she's right." He paused and Nicole's face turned red when she noticed how his eyes darkened with desire.  
  
"Oh, God," she murmured under her breath wishing that they would not have to go through this whole day of work.  
  
The elevator doors opened and Cole and Nicole walked straight into the main meeting room of the DLM Investments. At the end of the meeting when everybody got up to leave the managing director smiled, "Well, I will see you all tonight at the Charity event," he remarked walking towards the door.  
  
"What Charity event?" Nicole asked surprised.  
  
He turned around, "The Annual Charity Ball," he replied in a slightly surprised voice, "Did you not get the invitation?"  
  
Nicole shook her head, "No, I did not."  
  
"And neither did I," Cole added.  
  
"Oh," the Director frowned, "they must have messed up somehow. But you are definitely registered for it. We are sponsoring one of the prizes, so I really hope you can come. It would be a great opportunity for you, Nicole, to meet important people. And you, Cole get introduced in your new role." He smiled at them apologetically but his voice indicated that refusal was not an option.  
  
Cole and Nicole exchanged glances and the latter smiled, "Of course, I'll come," she said. "It would be great." Cole behind her nodded confirming that he would make an appearance as well.  
  
The director smiled, "So I'll see you tonight," he said.  
  
Phoebe walked into the ball room followed by Jason, Veronica and a few of her colleagues. The room was decorated beautifully. She saw a few familiar faces around. Being a popular columnist and Jason's girlfriend meant that Phoebe was often invited to this sort of events. Jason got immediately pulled away by one of his business partners and Phoebe and Veronica headed to the drinks table.  
  
"It's a great Ball," Veronica said looking around. "Great networking event."  
  
Phoebe smiled wryly, "Oh, yes. Network till you drop. Jason loves such parties."  
  
"I bet he does," Veronica nodded her head. "Look, here is Kline, I am going to say hello," her smile became sultry. "And maybe he'll introduce me to that gorgeous hunk he's talking to."  
  
Phoebe followed her gaze and stiffened. She saw Michael Kline with a glass champagne in his hand, talking to a tall blonde woman, whose face she could not see. Next to this woman dressed in an immaculate tuxedo stood her ex husband. "Veronica, no," Phoebe called after her. But the young woman did not hear the warning. As if through a wall of thick fog Phoebe saw her approaching the group. Kline smiled and shook her hand. He then introduced Veronica to a woman he was talking to and then to Cole. Veronica gave him her most charming smile, he smiled politely back and stretched his hand to shake hers and then Phoebe saw Veronica blanch and jerk her head. Cole's expression became amused. He lifted his head and his eyes met Phoebe's. His smile disappeared and he curtly nodded to her. At this point the woman talking to Kline turned her head and Phoebe recognized Nicole Berg dressed in a beautiful aquamarine gown. It was going to be a long evening, Phoebe thought to herself. A very, very long evening.  
  
Nicole mentally cursed. Phoebe Halliwell. The one person she did not want to see. Not today. Not ever, if she was honest. She flashed Kline a bright smile and tried to concentrate on what he was saying.  
  
Cole was not fooled by her smile. He could feel her tension and hated the fact that he could not do anything about it. His instincts told him to just grab Nicole's hand and blur away from this place. But he could not, which was kind of ironic. He was an all powerful demon and he could not stop the woman he cared so much for being hurt. A famous entrepreneur approached him and Cole had to stop thinking about Nicole. For the next two hours both of them shook hands, smiled and talked about world markets, investments, exchange rates and donations to charity.  
  
Cole finally got rid of the annoying banker, he looked around and found Nicole standing with a way too bright smile talking to one of the organisers. When their eyes met, she shot him a "call for the rescue" look. He grinned and moved towards her.  
  
"Mrs Blake," he said sending a forty year old woman a charming smile. "You organised a beautiful event. And the music is so good. Would you mind if I steal Nicole from you for a dance?"  
  
The socialite smiled at him adoringly, "Of course, Mr Turner, it's so nice to see you young people dance."  
  
Cole shot her another bright smile, took Nicole by the hand and led her to the dance floor.  
  
"Thank you so much for rescuing me from her," Nicole whispered to him, "But I have to warn you I am not very good at dancing."  
  
"That will make two of us," he answered pulling her closer. "But it is either that or talking to Mrs Blake, the choice is yours."  
  
She gave him unhappy look, "Can't we just go?" she asked giving him a pleading smile.  
  
Cole had to fight a strong urge to agree with her. "You have no idea, how much I would like to do it, but you know we can't," he said looking deep into her eyes, "We have at least an hour before we can go."  
  
She sighed, "I know, but you'll have to promise we'll at least get some food. I am starving and with all this talking I did not have time to eat."  
  
He smiled widely at her, "Word of honour, after this song we'll go and eat."  
  
Phoebe was watching the two of them dance and a knot in her stomach was growing by the minute. Cole was never keen on dancing and she always had to nag him for a single dance. But with Nicole Berg, he was the one dragging her to the dance floor. And what was worse they looked beautiful together. They moved graciously following the rhythm of the latino melody. She saw them smiling at each other and the look in Cole's eyes made her stomach turn upside down. She recognised that look, she saw it so many times in the past. Phoebe could not watch any longer.  
  
"I am going to get some food," she told Jason. He nodded, too busy talking to one of the big publishers. She headed to the tables, which were set in the next room and started picking some food hoping that it would make her stomach feel better. When her plate was full she turned around looking for a place to sit when suddenly her heel slipped on a slice of cucumber that somebody had dropped. Trying to hold her balance she grabbed on to a jacket of a man walking passed her. The firm hand steadied her.  
  
"Thank you," she murmured without even looking at him.  
  
"You're welcome," she heard too familiar voice. Phoebe jerked her head up and saw Cole's face in front of her.  
  
In panic she stared at him. His face was expressionless. "I see you're fine now," he said coolly, letting go of her elbow and turned to leave.  
  
"Cole..." Phoebe grabbed his shoulder and when he turned back she immediately regretted her outburst. "Thank you," she mumbled again.  
  
He was about to answer, but a loud voice interrupted him.  
  
"Cole, Phoebe, how great to see you guys together. I always knew that you would sort everything out." Both Cole and Phoebe swirled around and saw Carla Stevens the ex columnist from the Bay Mirror standing behind them. "A love like yours can conquer everything," the older woman kept bubbling, "you were destined to be together. And everybody else you meet will never going to make you as happy as you were with each other."  
  
"We are not..." Cole tried to say. But she did not let him finish.  
  
"Of course you are not announcing it openly. But here everybody is your friend. And we are so happy for you."  
  
The half demon lost his patience. "Look, lady," he started again and stopped mid sentence.  
  
Nicole turned on her heels and walked out of the room. Her only thought was not to start crying or blowing things up before she managed to leave this party. She had almost reached the door when somebody stopped her.  
  
"Miss Berg," the tall young man with dirty blond hair smiled at her. "I am Jason Dean. I wondered if we could talk."  
  
She was about to refuse him when his name registered with her. Nicole put a bright smile on her face. "Absolutely."  
  
The initial panic, which Phoebe felt when Carla Stevens opened her big mouth, was replaced by vindictive satisfaction when she observed Nicole Berg looking as if she just had her worth nightmare. But the pleased smile quickly disappeared from Phoebe's face when she saw Cole's reaction. She'd never seen him that angry. He waved his hand and the room around them emptied leaving just him, Phoebe and Carla. He grabbed the older woman by her shoulders and shook her violently. "You are gravely mistaken," he roared dangerously, "and if you ever again open that big mouth of yours in front of me I personally will make sure that it would be the last words of your life." With these words he let go of the semiconscious woman and strode out of the room without even one glance to his ex wife.  
  
When Cole got out of the room his only aim was to find Nicole and try to minimize the damage he knew was already done. The look in her eyes when she stood in that room almost physically hurt him, there was so much pain in them. He looked in all rooms but could not find her. He went outside and blurred to the Penthouse but she was not there either. Then he blurred back and went into the ballroom and there he finally saw Nicole dancing with Jason Dean. Cole could not believe his eyes. Jealousy flared in his heart but he suppressed it knowing that it was pain caused by her feelings to him, which made her do that. He stood in the ballroom just watching her dance, when he felt somebody putting a hand on his shoulder. Cole swirled around and saw Justin Read his former colleague from Carter, Jackman and Kline.  
  
"Hi, Cole, how are you doing?"  
  
The last thing he needed now was to talk to somebody, so Cole mastered all his will power and managed a cold smile, "I am fine," he said curtly hoping that Justin will get the hint.  
  
But the latter just grinned wider, "Come on, Cole, don't be such a prude, new job, new woman. And you have nothing to say?"  
  
The half demon gave his ex colleague a chilling smile, "Silence is a virtue," he said in an icy tone, his smile vanishing, "you should have learnt it by now, Justin."  
  
His words made Justin's smile disappear, "No need to be so rude, Turner," he said trying to sound confident, "I get the hint," his eyes moved to the dance floor and a smug smile stretched his lips. "But I also get that you and Jason Dean share the same taste in women."  
  
For the rest of his life Cole would be surprised how he managed not to incinerate Justin Read on the spot. His hand has already clenched into a fist ready to release a fireball when the lights went out and a loud voice announced,  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you all so much for coming. I hope you are having a good time. I will only ask for your attention for a few minutes to announce this year's winners of our auction. The main prize a 20 feet yacht goes to Jason Dean who bid 50,000 dollars for it."  
  
The room roared in applause and Jason made his way to the podium illuminated by a spotlight. Cole did not notice him, his attention was completely focused on Nicole. In the virtual darkness of the room the young woman was convinced that nobody could see her face. The smile disappeared from her face, she ran her hand through her hair and headed to the door. The half demon did not waste any time and followed her. The moment she was out of the room, Nicole blurred away. Cole did not have anything else to do than to follow her. He caught up with her on the way, grabbed her hand and next minute they reappeared in the Penthouse.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" Nicole yanked her hand out of his grasp.  
  
Cole's face hardened, "I am just trying to ask you the same question?" he asked slowly trying to sound calm.  
  
Nicole's lips twisted into sarcastic smile, "Well, I was trying to get home," she said. "And if you excuse me, I'll be on my way." With these words she blurred away. Cole cursed and followed her. After a few interdimensional jumps Nicole realized that she would not be able to lose Cole this way and she blurred in front of her uncle's house. Hopefully there she would be able to hide from him at least until she is able to face him with some sort of dignity. She quickly opened the door and tried to close it behind herself but was too late. The door blew up into hundreds of pieces and she found herself facing one very pissed of half demon.  
  
"Can we stop now with the "catch me if you can" theme and talk like grown ups?" he asked sarcastically.  
  
Nicole rubbed her face, "We have nothing to talk about," she whispered tiredly.  
  
The anger, which Cole managed to suppress for so long spilled out. "We have plenty to talk about," he growled. "What the hell were you thinking dancing with Jason Dean?"  
  
"Well, excuse me, you were busy getting back with Phoebe so I had to entertain myself in a different way."  
  
"I was not getting back with Phoebe," he yelled. "She slipped and grabbed my jacket for support. That's when Carla Stevens opened her big mouth. That woman was always out of her mind and today she just moved into the whole different dimension," he paused and continued in a calmer voice. "I am sorry you had to see it. But it does not mean anything. You've got to believe me."  
  
Nicole's anger disappeared as quickly as it flared, her shoulders sagged and she shook her head. "It does not matter anymore," she whispered in a choked voice.  
  
Cole stared at her and ran his hand through his hair. "I've stopped understanding you," he said quietly, his rage replaced by despair. "All this time I was worried that you would understand it wrongly. Then I saw you dancing with Jason Dean and I was convinced you were trying to get back at me, Phoebe and the whole world. And now you're telling me it does not matter?"  
  
Nicole looked up at him and he could see that she struggled to hold back tears. "I meant that it did not change anything," she said quietly. "I am sorry, Cole. What I saw in that room was the life version of my worse nightmare. I am not saying that you did anything wrong. I believe you that it was just a stupid accident. You are the most loyal person I know. And I also know that you would not hurt me and won't lie to me. But no matter how mad this woman is she was right today. The love you and Phoebe shared does not go away just like that. You are soul mates, you were meant for each other and when Phoebe gets over her fears and asks you back I don't want to be the one standing between you. I don't want to be the second best choice."  
  
Cole looked at her his eyes full of disbelief. "I told you me and Phoebe don't have future, never had."  
  
"And I am sure you honestly believe in that, but it does mean you're right. I am sorry to bring it up, but I know how much you fought to be with Phoebe, you changed your life for her and you always wondered what happened to your Phoebe, the one you met 3 years ago," she paused and continued even quieter tears streaming down her cheeks. "I will be honest with you, Cole. I am falling for you, really badly. And I believe that you have feelings for me as well, you care for me and this way you make my feelings for you even stronger. If we don't stop now it will be too late for me. I will not survive if you leave me. It will drive me insane and I'll hate you for the rest of my life. We have a task to complete, which is important to the whole world. We cannot afford ruining it."  
  
Nicole did not look at him, she knew if she just met his eyes she would not be able to stick to her decision. And she had to do it. She had to save the debris of her pride if she could not save her heart.  
  
"So what do you want to do?" she heard him ask. She could not understand his tone and did not want to look at him.  
  
"I want you to stay away from me as much as possible," she said quietly hoping that her voice would express determination she did not feel. "I will stay at the Lugel's plain for this weekend, clear my thoughts. And after that we'll be just colleagues." She finally found the courage to look at him and immediately regretted it.  
  
Cole's face was expressionless but his eyes were dark with pain. Then his lips twisted into a wry smile and his eyes sparkled with contempt.  
  
"I thought I would have a lot to say to you," he said with a bitter irony, "but I was wrong. We have nothing to say to each other. Just like I have nothing to say to Phoebe. It turns out that you two have a lot in common. You both are egoistic, self righteous cowards who care only about themselves. When we met I did not trust you but you made me believe that you were different. I believed that you had ability to think and feel, I believed you were able to understand and trust me. I could not have been more wrong. With Phoebe there was nothing I could say or do to make her believe I was not evil. With you there is nothing I can say or do to stop you thinking I love Phoebe. Just like her you are stuck in your own prejudiced world, blinded and deafened by your own fears, not caring about anything else except your own peace of mind. And I am just a stupid fool who was prepared to risk everything for the opportunity to be happy, for the opportunity to make you happy," a pained laugh escaped his mouth. "Well, I am done with it. I am sick and tired of you making deciding my life for me, whom I love and don't love. Enjoy your peace of mind I will not disturb it again."  
  
With these words her turned on his heels and disappeared into the darkness. Nicole stood there for a moment and then sank to her knees, sobbing. She felt as if the whole world collapsed around her. She did not know how long she spent there curled up on the marble floor not feeling the coldness of the stone. She was alone, completely alone and it was her own doing. The loud cry escaped her mouth and she shimmered out of the house. She reappeared in the Schwarzlight family mausoleum. There she sank on her knees between the grave of her father and her uncle. Her forehead touched the floor and a pained groan escaped her mouth. Then she lifted her head and stared at the thirteen candles burning in front of each parlour. Her voice broke the silence of the night. "You never were there for me. You left me before I could even remember you properly and I always will hate you for this. But please, help me. Please help me now and I will never ask you again." Her voice broke and she bowed her head whispering her silent plea.  
  
The end.  
  
Author's note: This is the end of the story "When your life takes a turn". I started working on the sequel story and hope you'll stay with me. There will be a lot more of Elizabeth and also of the Charmed Ones and Leo. I know that in the show Leo is spineless and narrow minded (and I don't like him) but with a right amount of influence from Nicole and Cole he can become a little bit more of a character.  
  
I just want to say thank you to everybody who send me reviews and especially those who were there throughout the story. 


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